Wild Jungle
by Mikoto-chan92
Summary: 7-year-old Cornelia goes with her Mother and her colleagues to Central America into the deep jungle. Their job was to collect rare plants for medicine. But none of them would be expected to know of a single hunter watching them...
1. Let the story begin

Chapter 1: Let the story begin

Green… that was the words that ran through her head, the world around her was dressed in different color tones from green to earth colors. It was a relaxing, yet exciting feeling that was given to any creature that laid eyes on the thick huddle of trees and plants in this big jungle. Bird and insects kept on making the sounds that made the place buzz with life, something that was comforting for any person that was afraid of being alone in this place. But then again… who wouldn't be afraid of being alone?

This problem, however, was something a little human didn't have to worry about, seeing as the girl stood in the middle of a Camp that was buzzing with activity. The people in the area were busy setting up all the stuff they had brought with them. And staring at the busy people was a pair of large ocean blue eyes. The eyes darted from person to person as a little girl, roughly 7 years old, stood on one single spot patiently waiting for all the busy people to slow down and get some time to maybe play with her or give her some kind of assignment.

Her hair was that of a dark shaded blonde color and her skin was neither pale nor tanned. She wore a greenish jacket with matching shorts and some brown boots that had been given to her as a gift from her father before she had left on this journey. Sadly, her father couldn't come with her and her mother, since her father was on a business trip in France.

His name was Aaron Bennett Campbell, the best father in the world! At least, that was what his daughter thought of him. He as kind, caring and wise, and he were loved by family and friends. He also had a nickname, and it would be used often, only to get him to make a funny face and growl annoyingly. Something that made his daughter and wife start to giggle and laugh for a long time.

He was called, ABC.

A smile tugged on the girls lip in remembering … Her mother had told her that he had been teased at the school they went to when they were small. After the children in his had seen his name written, they noticed the three first letters in his name was also the first three letters in the alphabet. Something that had been, and was still hilarious, was what her mother had told her.

As the girl's thoughts returned to her mother, she turned her head and her eyes around looking for the tall blonde woman, but since every person in the camp wore the same type of clothing, it was hard to locate her.

"Cornelia!" A Voice suddenly called from her left and her head snapped to where the sound came from. "Could you please come over here and help me putting some of the boxes into the tent?" asked her mother that had walked up to the 7-year-old with a light smile on her face. The Girl nodded in excitement at the 31-year-old, now in front of her.

Emilia Campbell. Her mother.

She stood tall with her lighter blonde hair put up in a ponytail at the back of her head and greenish hat hung on her back as a small rope hung around her neck. Her clothing was pretty much the same as Cornelia's, a lime top under a light beige shirt and shorts with tall brown boots. The woman's smile gave away her friendly nature that was well known to her colleagues wandering around them at the moment and all those who knew her.

Cornelia nodded her head at the question, finally she had something to do. It was always fun to help out her mother when she needed help. Reaching out a hand to her daughter, Emilia waited until it was taken with the small hand before she navigated them both over to a load of boxes that was waiting to be brought into a large tent which had been set up earlier.

"What are inside the boxes?" Asked a curious Cornelia as she let go of her mother's hand and picked up one of the smaller packages. Emilia bent down and picked up a bigger sized box before she turned and started walking towards the tent with her daughter right behind her. "Different kinds of equipment that all of mommy's colleagues need while we are here, I thought I told you this already." The woman looked back over her shoulder at the young girl that looked back at her.

"But you never told me you needed this much!" Cornelia complained with a little annoyance in her tone. "Why do you need so many things? You are just going to look at plants!" The girl pointed out as her mother simply smiled back at her. "Yeah, I know sweetie, but maybe some of the plants we find can be used as medicine and help people who are sick." Emilia pointed out as they want inside the tent and gave the boxes to two men that were putting everything in place.

After exiting the tent Cornelia pouted slightly "I know mommy," she looked to the ground before her with a slightly sad expression, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound mean. I just didn't want to carry ALL the boxes!" The girl said extending her arms at the last comment indicating how many there were. "But I need to help out too! So that mommy won't have to do everything alone!" Cornelia said out loud, talking more to herself than her now smiling mother.

Cornelia held her word, and helped out her mother getting every single package into the tent where the two men took over and started setting up some of the equipment that had been inside. "Thanks a lot for helping me Cornelia." Emilia told her daughter and bent down to give her daughter a hug before she looked up on her wristwatch. Time had passed rather quickly and it was now 4.37 pm. Two hours had gone by since the camp had started setting up, and things seem to finally be in place.

"Let's take a break, sweetie. And maybe we could look around the area together with some of my colleges later when they are free." The blonde woman looked at her daughter which smiled in return, "Yeah!" The kid's eyes suddenly lost its light and she looked suspicious at her mother, "But only if Henry doesn't come."

Emilia had to hold her hand in front of her mouth to keep her laughter from spilling out. Henry was one of her co-workers who didn't seem to like Cornelia, or any other children for that matter. He seemed annoyed every time he had laid eyes on her daughter… a reminder that he was stuck out in the jungle with a kid who seemed to be torturing him by simply existing.

Henry Patterson was one of the people that protested the most when he had been told a 7-year-old would accompany them on this trip. While others was concerned of her safety in the wilderness, Henry was certain that she would get in the way or ruin the trip, one way or another. Even though Emilia had told him several times that Cornelia was a clever girl and had been told what she was not allowed to do in the time they were camped here.

The ground rules for Cornelia to follow was simple and easy to remember, but important none the less…

She had to stay at the camp site at all times, unless she was followed by someone that her mother trusted, or to ever eat any of the food she found there, it could be poisonous and deadly. At night and in the evening when the sun was gone, Cornelia had to stay inside one of the tents. Nobody knew what could be hiding in the dark.

Emilia's head shoot up in suddenly remembering something she had long forgotten in the confusion of setting camp. She looked at her daughter who was waiting patiently for her mother to answer her question.

"Ah… No I don't think Henry will be coming," she quickly replied before continuing, "But I suddenly remembered that I got something for you before we left the airport…" The woman hinted to her daughter who lit up like a candle light. "You did!? Thank you mommy! Can I see it, can I see it?" Cornelia asked jumping up and down with excitement.

Her mother nodded before she stood up and started walking, heading for the women's sleeping quarter where their entire personal luggage laid. Cornelia was skipping happily after her mother as they entered the tent and Emilia stopped in front of her bag as she started searching through it. Her daughter was now standing behind her trying to look over the woman's shoulder impatiently.

Finally her mother stopped and pulled out a small box which she looked at once before handing it to Cornelia, who gladly took it and started studying it. The box was about 15 x 7 centimeters with a height at about 5 cm. With big eyes the girl looked up at her mother, "Can I open it?"

Emilia smiled softly at her daughter, "Yes sweetie, go ahead." At her approval, Cornelia opened the box and peeked inside. Smiling, the girl put her tiny hand into it and pulled up a small flute. It was roughly 10 cm long and had a gold-like color, with a circle going around it at the middle and something that would look like leaves was carved into it, following the circle. In the end of the flute was a thin rope tied to a tip that stood out and Cornelia realized it could be used as a necklace.

Seeing that her daughter liked her gift, she decided to tell her the reason for buying this for her. "Cornelia." Her mother called softly to get her attention. When the girl looked up from her present she jumped at her mother giving her a tight hug. "Thank you, mommy! I'll treasure it!"

The woman hugged her back and grabbed her attention again as they let each other go. "Now, Cornelia sweetie, I need you to listen well to what I have to say." she said, and the girl stood up straight staring intently at her mother to show her she was paying attention. "I bought you this flute in case something would happen, I'm not saying something will, but it's better to be safe than sorry…" she explained slowly. "You are to keep this with you at all time, and you only use it if it's an emergency. If you get separated from us or you see a wild animal near the camp, you'll use it."

Cornelia nodded forcefully with a serious expression that most people would be surprised to see on a 7-year-old. "Understood! Only for emergencies!" The girl repeated and saluted to her mother, just like the way she had observed from a cartoon she had seen once.

The mother simply stared at her daughter with a sad smile at her lips as she pulled Cornelia into another hug. "God forbid something should ever happen to you…" she whispered softly into her daughter's hair before letting her go. "Now, how about we see how this looks on you." She took the flute as her girl turned around, lifting up her hair from her neck, so that Emilia could tie it for her.

"There!" The woman let the rope fall onto her daughter's neck as she let her hair go and turned to her mother with a smile. "How do I look?" Cornelia asked in a playful manner. "You look absolutely beautiful my dear." She leaned in and lightly kissed her little forehead, "Just like always…"

Cornelia blushed slightly as she smiled back at her mother. "I'm going to show this to everyone! Even Henry! And when he sees it, he'll be soooooo jealous!" The girl exploded with excitement and was about to run out of the tent, but she stopped up and ran back to her mother dragging a giggling Emilia with her.

To be continued…


	2. First meeting

_Okay, here is the second chapter of "Wild Jungle", I promise more action in future chapters… I just need to get the story straight before I really start anything. And thanks to 'halospartain' for the review, don't worry, this story won't turn into a drama/tragedy… too depressing for my taste…_

_Anyway! Enjoy the new chapter, and I'll upload chapter 3 as soon as I can!_

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**Chapter 2: First meeting**

Cornelia and Emilia had been running around for the last hour, showing the new flute to every single person at the camp site. Even Henry, who had complained about wasting money and simply walked off in the same irritated manner he always did after having a conversation with the young girl.

Though most girls wound be sad about is reaction, Cornelia had smiled and told her mother that Henry had been jealous of her. The comment had made the woman through another fit of giggles and Henry had sent a deadly glare back at the little girl, as it seems he had heard her remark.

Looking up at the sky, Cornelia began to grow anxiously aware of the fact that darkness would soon be spreading across the jungle. This would mean that she wouldn't be able to go explore the area if they didn't go soon. The seven-year-old wanted to see if she could spot some of the animals her father had told her about, like the Parrot, the iguana and maybe one of the different types of butterfly that lived here.

"Mommy! I want to go exploring now!"Cornelia shouted at her mother in an urgent manner, she wouldn't miss this chance and wait until the next day and her mother should have known that. "Yeah, I guess we can't wait much longer." Emilia agreed while looking at her wristwatch. "Could you wait here while mommy goes to get the other sweetie?"

The girl nodded eagerly, she wanted to go with her mother, but it would go faster if she didn't have to keep track of Cornelia while collecting her co-workers. While waiting, Cornelia lifted up her flute from where it hung around her neck and held it up in front of her. Studying it, she turned it from side to side with a light smile on her tugging on her lips. She really loved her gift; it was really pretty and the fact that her mother had gotten it for her made her love it more.

After about five minutes, Emilia came back together with five of her co-workers, one woman and three men. "Cornelia this is Sarah, Rodney, David and Miles." Her mother introduced all of the people behind her as they all either waved or nodded to Cornelia as their name was said.

Sarah was a tall woman with natural red hair that was tied up in a pony tail just like Emilia's and was gifted with a rare pair of green eyes, which were shielded behind a thin pair of glasses. Rodney had a dark toned skin and looked like he was older than the others, maybe about fifty years in age. He also had an aura about him that told all in the camp respect him, either for his wisdom or his strength. David, a younger man about twenty-five years old, had dark brown hair. He looked the most laid back guy among the people in the group, with his hands in his pockets and his eyes only half-open.

Last in line stood a tall guy that was almost at the same height as Rodney, who reached up to 6,2 feet when standing straight. Cornelia had to cock her head a long way back to see his face, seeing as she was roughly four feet tall. He had messy dark blonde hair and a grin on his face that indicated his child-like attitude… Cornelia smiled to herself; she was going to like this one.

"Nice to meet you, little lady," Miles greeted before he turned back to Emilia. "We were allowed to wander around the area, but we had to be back within one hour before it gets dark."

The woman nodded in agreement and turned to her colleagues with a serious expression, "Okay, You all know the rules; we stick together and don't go wander off on our own. Is that clear?" After every person had called out a "yes", Emilia turned her head down to Cornelia "That goes for you too, don't go wander off on your own." Cornelia saluted to her mother in a serious manner that made the other grow-ups smile.

Emilia nodded with a familiar smile placed on her face, "Okay, let's go."

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It had been forty-two minutes since "The wild and free explorers", as Cornelia had named them, set out on their little journey. So far they had encountered multiple birds and small animals, Miles had even spotted a chameleon inn a tree, and now he and Cornelia was chatting together like excited kids. Cornelia could be excused, since she was a kid. Miles on the other hand was surprised to be twenty-nine, but acted like an easily amused child.

"It was probably three feet long! Did you see how it changed the colors on its skin?" Miles exclaimed towards Cornelia on his right side who replied with an even louder voice, (if possible,) "Yeah! It was '_this_' big!" She shouted holding out her arms as far as she could while keeping her eyes on her new found friend.

"No way, Shorty! It was at least '_this_' big!" the Dark blonde man replied holding his hands further out than her own hands could reach. Cornelia calculated the reach between her arms and soon got an annoyed look on her face. She then tried to reach her hands out further, something her short arms weren't capable of. Miles snorted, desperately trying not to laugh out loud, something that would definitely offend the girl.

Sarah and Emilia was walking side by side in front of the two 'children' in their group, discussing different subjects, mostly about their work while they were stationed out here and what plants and animals they were hoping to see. David was walking behind the others with the same bored expression he always seemed to have, glancing at the surroundings from time to time.

Rodney, who had been walking in front of the group suddenly halted and put his hand up as a sign for the others to stop too. Doing as requested, all the members of "The wild and free explorers" stopped in their tracks, sending a confused glance toward the elder man's back. He tilted his head right and left in a slow observing manner.

"Why did we stop?" Cornelia voiced out what every person in the group was wondering. Rodney tilted his head to his left, looking back over his shoulder to look at everyone behind him, "Don't you hear that?" he asked in serious tone which made everyone look around while trying to locate what they were all supposed to hear.

Miles suddenly tensed and took a protective step towards Cornelia as all humor fell from his face and his body fell into a defensive position. "The animals in the area have fallen silent, meaning something is nearby…" the blonde explained for the others that hadn't noticed what the elder man had been trying to say.

David had dropped the lazy attitude and fell into a defensive position like the blonde and turned his back to Miles to be ready if whatever they were expecting came from behind. Rodney backed up a little so that there were less space between him and the women in their party. Sarah and Emilia stood tense; the worried mother cast a glance behind her to look at her daughter who was now holding a tight fist around some of the loose fabric of Miles's pants at his left side. Cornelia was beginning to worry, and her eyes darted to all sides, trying to find what created the tension around them.

Rodney suddenly shifted his hand to his left hip and unbuckled the safety of a holder and slowly dragged out a tiny black gun which he held with both hands and lifted it up in front of his right shoulder, ready to use it if necessary. It was the only real weapon for protection they had at the moment, except the pocketknives that the two other men carried around with them. But they wouldn't take the chance of dropping their stance, to pull them out from the pockets.

Nobody moved for a long time. Minutes seemed to go by as nothing happened, but none of the men dared drop their guard. All of them knew that the moment they did that, whatever they were waiting for, would strike. The jungle was still silent and tense, and most of the plants and trees cut off the groups view and provided excellent cover.

Cornelia shifted slightly beside Miles as her head turned to both sides before looking up at the man towering above her and the torturous silence was finally broken: "Is it gone?"

Just as the words had left the girl's mouth the sound of a snapping twig made them all jerk their heads to the left where the sound came from. Rodney, who had pointed his gun in the same direction just as the sound had reached his ears, held his finger tightly on the trigger, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

A roar suddenly sounded in the opposite direction, Rodney turned hundred and eighty degrees on reflex and was about to pull the trigger, but was hit by a strong force and was tackled to the ground by something large. As the tall man hit the ground he let out a surprised cry and every person turned their full attention to the creature which now was on top of the dark man, pinning him to the ground.

Quickly shifting his eyes to look upon the creature he reacted on pure reflexes as a set of sharp teeth came down aimed at his fully exposed neck. Both hands flew up and caught the jaws in a tight grip before they could come any closer. The creature roared again as its green eyes kept still on its pray, the paws with fully extended claws dug through the top and into the delicate human skin, drawing blood. The fur was in an orange color and a long tail waving in the air behind the creature.

"It's a jaguar!" Sarah exclaimed in panic backing up two steps before tripping and falling on her butt. Miles was about to leap past the girl and try freeing Rodney from its grasp, but stopped as David suddenly called from behind him. Turning at the sound of his name he saw a second jaguar leaping right at David who twisted out of its reach, which lead it to land right before his feet.

Remembering the spooked girl that was standing behind him he called to her before the new arrival could make another move "Cornelia! Run! Take cover in the jun-" The words didn't finish leaving his lips before the jaguar struck his left leg with its claws, tearing through the fabric and creating three deep cuts. Miles had to bite his teeth together so that a pained cry didn't leave his mouth, instead he shouted "Cornelia, go!"

The panicking girl didn't hesitate any longer before she darted to her left and through some green plants and past the tall trees. The girl's mother had been about to run after her daughter, but realized she had to help Rodney, who was desperately trying to fend off the first jaguar which were determined to set its fangs into the older man's neck. Miles and David were desperately trying to fend off the second cat. Sarah was frozen in terror while sitting on the ground unable to move or utter any noise aside from her panicking breath.

Emilia shook her head and made up her mind. Cornelia would be able to take care of herself for a few minutes. Wasting no more time, she leaped towards the jaguar.

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Running through the green leaves and plants, Cornelia ran as fast as she could, darting slightly from side to side to avoid the trees that were towering above her. She finally slowed to a halt and turned her head, looking back over her shoulder. There was no movement or sounds she could detect, she was too far away from the others to hear them now.

The girl leaned back onto a tree behind her, holding her head up high while she panted loudly. She had run a long distance in her panic to get away from the attacking animals. Her head fell down slightly as she looked to the direction she had come from. Cornelia couldn't help but wonder; would her mommy be okay? And what about Miles, the first friend she had made out here?

She could feel hot tears forming in her eyes and she was about to slide down the tree frame and sit there as distress captured her. But she never got that chance as a now familiar growl reached her ears. Cornelia snapped her head to the left and felt her eyes widen in surprise. There was a third jaguar, standing about fifty feet away from her, and it was staring at her with hungry eyes.

Suddenly the head of the big cat fell slightly and its body tensed. Panic rose within Cornelia's mind and before she knew what she was doing the young girl was once again running, though this time it was with a big hungry cat behind her.

Seconds after, Cornelia darted into a small clearing where the ground was more open, seeing that she wouldn't run into trees in front of her, she took the chance to look over her shoulder at the approaching threat. Her actions turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Cornelia's foot suddenly jerked into a hidden root, causing her to lose her balance and fall flat onto the ground with a 'thud'. Recovering from the fall, she quickly turned her head to look back at the jaguar that was now only ten feet from her.

Shocked and terrified, Cornelia stared back at the cat as time seemed to slow. She was scared, the jaguar was going to hurt her and she wouldn't be able to defend herself from the fangs or claws. However, the sharp claws never made contact with her soft skin.

The jaguar suddenly stopped up, skidding to an abrupt halt that tore some of the different plants out of the ground. This left a one inch long drag mark in the dirt. The determinate expression the big cat had, was replaced with something that may be something in the direction of… fright? Its ears turned backwards and bared its teeth while it let out a threatening hiss. It was no longer paying any attention to the little girl on the ground, but had its gaze fixed upon something up in the trees.

Deciding that the girl was no longer worth any more of its time, it slowly backed away with its tail between its legs. Without further ado the jaguar left the clearing and darted away like its life had depended on it. Cornelia laid in silent for a long moment with her head turned in the direction her attacker had escaped. Panting slightly from all the excitement, the seven-year-old turned her head back in front of her as she pushed her upper body off the jungle floor and sat back up on her knees.

Ever so slowly, Cornelia's head lifted and fixed her blue eyes to stare at the same spot that the jaguar had, before it had left her all alone in the clearing. She didn't see it at first, but she soon noticed what it was that had scared the big cat. On a tree branch, roughly sixteen feet over the ground, stood a tall figure looking down at her.

Strangely enough, she could see right through it, and it seemed like ripples in the air formed the figure which made it hard to see it if you weren't looking for it. What she could see however, was that it had arms and feet, and a slightly bulky figure. It was tall… probably seven to eight feet in total height. She could also make out something that looked like a big mask covering its face.

Cornelia stared up at the creature in complete silence, and the creature seemed to do the same. It wasn't moving, but she could tell it was watching her with interest. After about three minutes the young girl relaxed in her position as the adrenaline going through her body seemed to slowly disappear.

Blinking a few times, Cornelia decided to break the tension which was building up and then did something that normal people would have stared at her for, what she would do in this kind of situation…

"Hello."

She greeted it.

**To be continued…**


	3. Introduction

_Hello again! :D_

_Finished chapter three at last… And I figured out my muse is actually my best friend! Who seems to inspire me to write by simply being in contact with me, either by sitting beside me in class or talking to me on msn. Thanks a lot to her!_

_Oh! And please feel free to leave a review, I simply love those things ;)_

_Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 3: Introduction**

The invisible creature up above in the tree shifted slightly as the girl spoke up, but didn't try to make any other movements or reply to the young girl on the ground. She was looking up with a tiny smile at her lips.

"Who are you?" Cornelia asked in a curious tone. She wasn't sure what it was, but it had saved her from the jaguar, whether it was intentional or it was invisible and had a human like structure, the seven-year-old could only come up with one solution to what it really was. So in an excited manner she asked, "Are you a ghost?"

The invisible creature seemed to cock its head slightly to its left in a questionable manner. A thought then crossed Cornelia's mind and she looked a little sorrowful when she voiced her next question. "Could it be that… you don't speak English?" The "ghost's" head turned back into the position it had been before and a low clicking noise seemed to escape its throat which seemed to be an answer to the girl's question.

"Oh…" Cornelia looked down at her hands that were resting on her legs before she lifted her head again with a new smile. "Well, thank you for scaring away the big cat! It was really scary." The invisible creature seemed to roll its head slightly in an unimpressed manner as it growled in a low tone, clearly disagreeing with her statement.

The girl blinked, now slightly confused. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Mr. Ghost?" she asked in wonder, adding the new nickname she had come up with. The 'ghost' seemed to have lost interest in answering more questions from the girl as it lifted is head scanning the area before its attention was grasped by movement below it.

Cornelia had pushed herself off the ground and slowly walked over to the tree her so-called ghost was stationed in. Keeping her gaze on the ground as not to trip on anymore loose roots, she made her way up to the tree and lifted her head way back, so that she could see up at the creature who was now once again staring down at her.

It became slightly surprised as the small human reached up to a thin branch and put her left foot on the tree frame before pulling herself up off the ground. She wore a determinate expression across her face as she ever so slowly began climbing up the tall structure reaching for the next branch above her, and the next again after that.

The invisible watcher, who had been standing until now, bent down into a crouching position, its head turned slightly to the left as eyes traced the smaller creature below, slowly making its way up towards him. The girl paused after arriving at ten feet above the ground as she looked upon a branch that was further above her than the others. She slowly rose from her place on the lower branch, supporting herself against the tree with her right hand as the other reached up trying to get a hold of the one above her.

Just as her hand closed around the branch a 'crack' sounded below Cornelia as her footing disappeared and her weight pulled her down. She let out a surprised cry before she looked down to figure out what had happened. The branch had snapped at her weight and fell to the ground with a thud. Her eyes quickly returned to look up as she swung her free hand around the same piece of wood since her right hand couldn't have held her up much longer on its own.

Her eyes darted to Mr. Ghost, he kept staring down at her in an interested manner, but made absolutely no attempt at helping her. She would have to get herself out of this one on her own.

Cornelia's frightened features slowly turned back to her previous determined face as she started pulling herself up and leaned her upper body over the branch once she was high enough. She let a relived sigh escape her lips before a victorious grin spread across her face.

After getting back up, she proceeded with her climbing, a little more cautious this time around. She soon laid a hand atop of the thick branch her watcher was placed on. He continued to sit in the same position as Cornelia pulled herself up and sat down placing her feet together at one side while she once again supported herself against the tree so that she wouldn't lose her balance and fall down.

She looked down below herself at the ground with an uneasy expression; she was really far away from the ground. The blonde let out a deep breath and closed her eyes before she turned her head and opened her eyes to look at Mr. Ghost. He sat still while studying her, eyes glued to the small creature that was now only three feet from him.

Cornelia slowly removed her hands, making sure she had perfect balance before completely letting go and hurried to place them back to the branch she was sitting on. She looked back up as the creature before her made a warning growl, telling her not to come any closer to him.

The girl blinked once before she cocked her head slightly to the side as she tried out a smile. "Hi." Mr. Ghost cocked his head the same way as the creature before him and responded with a few clicking sounds. Cornelia's smile brightened as her head turned back into its original position. "So, what are you doing up here Mr. Ghost?" her light voice questioned.

He let out a light growl before shaking his head, it was first then that she noticed the long hair that followed his head at the rough movement. It looked a lot like thick dreadlocks, but she couldn't make out anything more from the blurry form as his head once again fell still.

"What?" Cornelia asked confused. She didn't know what it was trying to tell her. "What do you mean, Mr. Ghost?" Once the last word left her mouth he violently shook his head again and Cornelia's brows fell in suspicion. "You're saying… that you're not a ghost?" she tried, and to her surprise, the creature gave her a short nod as to confirm her statement.

The young girl stared at the invisible creature before her with her eyes slightly bigger than normal. She was extremely confused. "But… if you are not a ghost, then what are you?" Cornelia felt a little disappointed, because the first thing she had planned to tell her mother and Miles once they got back to the camp was that she had met a ghost! But now that her belief had turned out to be wrong, she couldn't help but feel a little sad.

The creature didn't move or say anything for a while, it seemed like it was regarding something and at least it lifted up one hand in front of itself as it seemed to press a few buttons on a device that was fastened to its forearm.

All of a sudden the invisible shield seemed to fall off it and the figure was now solid and clear as day. It wore a metal mask that covered its whole face and some of its head, the eyes was covered with some kind of gray glass, and "dreadlocks" which were seemed to have a plastic like texture with metal rings in every one of them. It seemed to have reptile-like skin and the whole body was covered in something like fish netting, as some kind of armor that matched the mask, was placed on its shoulders, lover body and a pair of boots in the same structure.

A predator.

Cornelia jerked back in surprise at once, completely forgetting where she was before she lost her balance and was unable to get a grip on the piece of wood before she fell over the side and she found herself staring at the ground that was coming toward her. She closed her eyes shut as a reflex and lifted her hands defensively in front of her face, somehow thinking that would protect her weak body from damage.

Her body suddenly came to an abrupt halt in midair and her hands fell from her face at the force and dangled loose beneath her. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked confused to the ground that wasn't closing in on her any. Cornelia noticed the tight grip around her left leg and looked up… or down, from her point of view. A large dark beige colored hand was what had halted her fall, and she noticed it had something that looked like short claw-like nails in a black color, though they didn't seem to be all that hard or strong.

Eyes followed upwards from the hand and to a face-like metal mask that looked down at her with no visible emotion. He was still standing in the same coaching position. All of a sudden he lifted her up with one arm as if she weighted nothing at all. He held his hand up above him so that Cornelia's face and his were on the same eye level.

The empty eyes of the mask studied the little girl; her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open. The silence lasted a while as both of them regarded each other, until Cornelia finally broke the tension. "Wow…" she whispered in amazement and suddenly put on a big smile, "You're not a ghost at all!" She lifted her hand and pointed an accusing finger at him as she made the last comment.

Tilting its head to right, the predator let out a soft growl. The small human's reaction was a little surprising. From previous encounters with other humans, it had come to the hunters' attention that it would normally start screaming before either running or attacking with a long distance weapon. Though all of them had been hunted down and slaughtered.

However, he had never encountered a human of this size before. As it had scanned its body before, he had found out that it was a child, based on the fact that its body wasn't fully developed yet. The scan had also showed that it was a female. Because was there to hunt, it would be dishonoring to kill a creature that had no kind of weapon and was as defenseless as this one, not to mention clumsy.

He now stared at the youngling hanging in front of him, unsure what to do with it. His vision suddenly detected that the blood in her body was starting to rush to her head. The predator made a clicking sound as he lifted the girl back onto the branch laying her down on her stomach before letting go of her foot.

She fixed her hands steadily on her new found foundation before lifting her upper body. The child looked up at the hunter with an impressed expression. "Wow, you're really strong!" she exclaimed. He simply gave a short grunt at her compliment and turned his head around to scan the jungle under him. "My name is Cornelia!" the girl blurted out breaking the annoyed predator's concentration.

He snapped his head back at her with a threatening snarl that made the girl jump. This made the predator let out a chattering sound that could be recognized as a laugh of amusement. The girl lost the surprised look and rather sat there in silence as she stared at him like she was waiting for him to do something. His head cocked to the side once again as he noticed her gaze, wondering what she was expecting him to do. If she was waiting for an apology for startling her, she definitively wouldn't get one.

"… Aren't you going to tell me your name?" the girl finally asked with a puzzled expression. Her answer was a short snort as he looked away from her and decided to ignore her; his name was of no importance to her, and she probably wouldn't be able to pronounce it right either.

Still Cornelia waited patiently, but she soon realized an answer wouldn't come no matter how long she sat there. But instead of getting annoyed or sad by this fact, she turned it to her advantage and exclaimed cheerfully: "If you won't tell me I'll give you a name myself!" The predator sat still, his head still wouldn't turn towards her, but he was listening closely to her next words.

"Hm, what am I going to call you…" the girl kept staring at the hunter until her eyes lit up and a smile broke out on her face. "I know! I'm going to call you… Catcher!"

The predator turned to face the beaming girl with a questionable gaze. Why in the world would she name him 'Catcher'?!

Cornelia seemed to sense his confusion and decided to answer his unspoken question: "Because you were so quick when you caught me as was about to fall earlier!" The predator blinked behind its mask. This had to be the most simple-minded creature he had ever encountered in his whole life. It made him wonder how this small creature had managed survived up until this point.

Still, he had to admit the new name was better than the old one she had given him. The hunter guessed the name was acceptable for the time being and let out a low purring sound to let her know she was allowed to use it. Cornelia grinned, but it soon fell into a worried look as she removed her gaze from the predator and redirected it to the end of the clearing beneath her, where she had came running through. The hunter followed her gaze, but looked back to her as she pulled up something that had been hanging around her neck, and held it in front of her face.

Cornelia stared hard at the flute her mother had given her, wondering if she should use it. She wasn't in any danger, but she wanted to get back to her mother and Miles to find out if they were safe. Miles was hurt, she already knew that much, but the fear of not knowing what had happened after she had fled was starting to make itself known. Small tears started to form in the corners of her eyes making her new found friend that sat beside her confused.

Her grip on the flute tightened and she pulled it up to her mouth. Catcher was great company and fun to be with, but she wanted her mother near her again, for her to hold her own tiny body close to her in a protective and lovingly manner like she always did. With those thoughts clear in her mind, she drew in a sharp breath before blowing it back out through the flute with all the force her small lungs could master. A loud sharp noise filled the jungle right after, which drowned out all the other sounds in it.

Catcher let out a startled growl at the high-pitched sound and quickly grabbed the girls hand as he yanked it and the flute away from her mouth, causing the sound to die immediately. Cornelia looked wide-eyed up at the predator in a confused and frightened gaze. The girl hadn't expected him to react as forceful as he had, then again, she could have given him a warning before blowing the flute.

The Predator lifted her arm and studied the small object she still held in her hand, he hadn't expected a thing that small to make such a high and loud sound. He made a disapproving sound, shaking his head as his dreadlocks followed the motion, before moving his eyes back to the young child.

"I'm sorry…" the teary girl whimpered slowly. "I just wanted my mommy to know where I was, so that she could come and find me." Cornelia explained while keeping her tears from falling down her cheeks. Catcher cocked his head to the side once again; the girl was beginning to understand that he did that whenever he was questioning something.

"I ran from mommy and her friends when Miles told me to go hide. They were attacked by two big kitties, and now I want to go back to them…" she told him while fighting the tears. Somehow Catcher seemed to understand what she was trying to tell him, even though he had no idea what a 'mommy' was.

His eyes suddenly lit up in a yellow light before he turned to watch the direction Cornelia had came from; if there were other humans there that he could hunt, he would definitively use this opportunity to do so. And even though he wouldn't kill the small human child, didn't mean he wouldn't use her as bait to lure out other more suitable prey.

Catcher slowly lifted his hand away from Cornelia's arm and lifted it over the girl as he placed it around her waist. He then pulled her up in a swift motion and placed her under his arm as she let out a surprised yelp. The predator slowly stood up with the child that had lifted her head to look up with a surprised expression on her face. She suddenly noticed the direction he was keeping his gaze and a hope filled her as she spoke up: "Are you going to take me to my mommy?"

The hunter looked back down at the girl, now hanging on his right side with only his muscular arm to hold her up. Catcher nodded once, earning him a happy cry from Cornelia, "Yay! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!"

He simply let out a grunt as he turned to scan the trees in the area. She wouldn't be so happy if they reached her people and they would turn out to be fine hunting trophies for his collection, but that was only if they were armed and capable of defending themselves. The more violent they were the better.

Spotting a perfect tree, Catcher leaned slightly forward before bending his knees, earning him a wide eyed glance from the young human being, who seemed to understand he was about to do.

But before his companion could utter anything, he leapt from the branch and flew through the air.

**To be continued…**


	4. Reunion

_Here you go! A new chapter, as you requested ;)_

_Thanks a lot for the reviews guys! I really love to get comments on my work, get all tingly inside when I read them XD_

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**Chapter 4: Reunion.**

One would think flying among the trees high above the ground would be scary, and the fact that falling would lead to either instant death or broken bones had a high possibility of happening. But instead of screaming in terror like any person would normally do, Cornelia was now hanging in the predator's tight grasp, laughing like she was having the time of her life.

Tears of joy was present in her eyes as Catcher once again leaped through the air, followed by yet another safe landing in a new tree. It was a thrilling experience for the small girl; her now messy blonde hair was hanging down by the side of her face as she panted heavily in between her laughter. She had been a little skeptical at first, since she hadn't known the hunter could jump so far, but she now trusted him to not let her fall. After all, she had given him the name for that very reason.

Catcher was now pausing in the new location and was staring down at the laughing girl with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. Amused that she liked traveling up in the trees, humans were known for using the ground when traveling. Annoyed at the ruckus she was making. He wouldn't be able to sneak up on the humans if Cornelia continued in making so much noise.

A low warning growl left the predator that made the girl look up at him, still laughing, but in a more hushed manner. After a while she managed to stop, but a humorous smile still played on her lips. Catcher had been staring at her the whole time, and finally his head back up, pleased by the silence.

He croaked down and turned his head from side to side while scanning the area for heat signatures. And after merely seconds later he could detect the approaching humans, he could also pick up on the distant shouting that was constantly drawing closer to his location.

The predator would have turned on his camouflage, hadn't it been for the girl he was holding onto. Although he would have been more comfortable with it activated, it wasn't needed all that much for the time being, seeing as the tree he was placed in provided good cover from the ground.

Cornelia suddenly twitched from under his arm and he could feel her pulse rate increasing by a bit, clearly she had also heard the voices that were coming closer. "It's mommy! MOMMY I'M OVER HERE!" The girl suddenly shouted before the hunter could silence her. He let out an angry growl, but hushed it down a bit so that he wouldn't give the humans away his existence as well.

The girl cringed under his disagreement of calling for her mother, but she couldn't help it, the words had just escaped her before she could stop herself. Cornelia just hoped that Catcher wasn't mad at her, she hadn't meant any harm. Both of them looked away from each other as three people came running through the bushes and came to an abrupt halt wile the first person kept turning her head in all directions as in some kind of panic, "Cornelia! Cornelia where are you!?"

Said girls face light up; it was her mother, Emilia, who was now standing ahead of the two other people. With a look towards the others, it turned out to be Miles and David panting heavily behind her worried mother.

Upon further inspection, it turned out every member of the group was hurt, one way or another. David and Emilia had some small cuts and bruises, along with some torn clothing. Miles, on the other hand, was now leaning against a tree with sweat clearly traceable on his face. He held a hand tightly around the leg Cornelia had witnessed to be badly cut by the jaguar; however the wound was now no longer visible, seeing as it was hidden behind some cloth that was wrapped tightly around it.

Catcher suddenly let out a low disapproving sound from beside her; she had not known why he would feel that way, though. The girl shifted her eyes back to her mother who was now calling for her lost daughter once again. She was about to answer, but suddenly remembered that Catcher wanted her to be quiet, so she bit down on her lip while fighting back the tears that had started to form in her eyes.

"Emilia!" Miles shouted to the blonde woman ahead of him, making her snap her head back towards him with wide eyes filled with fear for her daughter. "You… have to calm down. Panicking isn't going to get you anywhere; Cornelia is probably safe, so please… please calm down." Pain was clearly present in his words and he seemed to be exhausted, making anyone wonder why the guy was even there, and not back at the camp at the health station.

The woman lifted her hand up to brush away some strands of hair from her face while trying to calm her breathing, looking at Miles with an uncertain gaze. "But… she blew her flute…" Emilia tried to explain while trying not to panic again. "I told her only to blow it if it was an emergency, or if she needed help!"

This time it was David's turn to speak up, "She could also have blown it if she got lost and didn't know how to get back to us…" Surprisingly enough, his voice was calm and even. His cool grey eyes darted to Miles who was staring up at the younger man from where he now sat on the ground. "And you should have gone back to the camp with Rodney and Sarah. I understand that you want to help your new little friend, but making your condition worse isn't going to help her." David stopped and put his scratched hands in his pockets like he always did.

Emilia and Miles could simply stare at him in amazement. This was the first time they had heard him talk for that long, and it made it even more surprising was how observant and calculating he had sounded. As the word started to sink in, Emilia slowly started to calm down and turned to watch the surroundings once more before turning back towards David again with eyes that could only be described as pleading.

"Then… why doesn't she reply to my calls anymore?" Her words were now more of a whisper, fearing that her voice would break if she raised the volume any higher. "Why is it… that when we get to the place we heard her shout from… why is it that she's not here?" Tears were building up in the woman's eyes, and this time, David had no reply to give the devastated mother.

Miles gritted his teeth in pain, closing his eyes. He then took a deep breath and opened his eyes with new found determination. "Cornelia!" His voice roared through the jungle, but was met with no reply. "Cornelia! We're here!" the male tried again. He wasn't going to give up this search, injured or not.

Emilia joined him in his call and stood with her hands clenched into fists at her side. "Cornelia! Please! Answer me!" She looked up at the trees ahead of her with a pleading look directed at nothing in particular. "Please…" she whispered as a tear single tear ran down her cheek.

"Mommy! I'm here!"

The woman let out a surprised gasp as Cornelia suddenly bolted through a bush and was running straight towards the now crying mother. Emilia's legs had somehow moved by themselves as she suddenly found herself running towards her daughter. She fell down on her knees when they reached each other, and she quickly wrapped her arms around the little girl in a tight embrace.

Cornelia, in return, wrapped her arms around her mother as tears of joy fell to the ground from both of them. "You silly, silly girl…" Emilia whispered into her daughter's hair. "Oh, thank God you're okay", she continued while stroking her hair in a loving manner. There was no anger present in the woman's voice, just love and relief.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come when you called me before…" Cornelia sobbed into her mother's shirt. It took some time before Emilia managed to put some distance between herself and her daughter so that she could look down on her. "So, you heard us call you?" A male voice spoke up and made Cornelia tilt her head to the side so that she could see past her mother, and there sat Miles with a smile placed on his face. Even David, who stood at his side, was smiling slightly from watching their reunion.

A smile broke out on her face as Emilia slowly stood up still holding her daughters hand tightly: she wasn't letting her go any time soon. Together the pair walked up to the guys with Cornelia in the lead. She made her way up to Miles and gave him a bright smile, "Yeah! I heard you." Her smile faded slightly and was replaced with a little sad look, "But Catcher wanted me to be quiet so I couldn't answer in the beginning."

All the adults present blinked in confusion. "Catcher?" Miles repeated in a questionable manner. Cornelia smiled and nodded her head in confirm, "Yeah! He's my new friend!" she exclaimed in a proud manner before continuing her explanation. "He's really tall, he's even taller than Rodney, he wears a metal mask and he can turn invisible! Oh! And jump really far, he took me with him when we were up in the trees! It was really fun! He even scared away one of those big kitties!" She waved her free hand around in her wild explanation.

David and Emilia stared dumbly at her, wondering what in the world she was talking about. Miles, on the other hand, sat with a knowing smirk on his face. This caught David's attention and he was about to ask him about it, but he never got the chance. "So, this Catcher is your imaginary friend?" Miles asked her with a certain amount of amusement in his tone.

The confusion suddenly lifted from the two others as all that Cornelia had explained, made sense. Cornelia, however, let on an annoyed frown, "He's not imaginary! Catcher is real!" she shouted at Miles, angry at the fact that he didn't believe her.

The dark-blonde quickly put up his hands in defense, "Whoa! Sorry. I guess… he must be real if you insist, or what do you say little lady?" He winked at her while saying the last part. Cornelia put on a determinate face and would have crossed her arms, hadn't it been for the fact that her mother was still holding onto one of them. "Yes. He is!"

Miles smiled and pushed himself away from the tree with a pained grunt, but he pushed it away before his hand landed on top of Cornelia's head, "I'm glad he was there to protect you while I was away." He winked at her with a familiar grin, making the girl lose her frown and replaced it with a smile.

Cornelia turned slightly to the side and pointed her hand up towards a tree. "We sat up there when you came here" the child explained to the smiling adults around her. "Catcher didn't want to let me go down at first… but when he climbed down, he decided to turn invisible again! I wanted him to meet you, but he didn't want to" she told them with a sad expression.

Emilia bent down beside her daughter and gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure he's just a little shy… why don't we go back to the camp now, and maybe he'll follow us there?" Her daughter nodded in agreement and soon they were up and going again. Miles was now hanging a supportive arm around David's neck, since he had been told by Emilia not to put any more strain on his injured leg.

Cornelia kept looking back over her shoulder, searching the trees up above for a ripple of air, but she saw nothing. She turned her head back around and kept her eyes down at the ground as she strode past the dirty ground, worrying about whether Catcher had decided to follow them like her mother had suggested, or simply left. She couldn't spot him, but that was probably because he had turned invisible again.

Yet, she held on to the hope that he was following her. He had been really fun to be with, even though he didn't speak much, only some noises from time to time. Cornelia sighed and looked over her shoulder one last time, nothing could be seen. With a depressed expression she turned her head away, unaware of a pair of eyes watching her from the trees.

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The humans that had come to retrieve the child had been no worthy pray for the predator. All of them seemed to have been damaged, and they bore no weapons with them, except for a short knife that would provide no real resistance against the predator. This was all too much of a handicap for him, and his honor wouldn't allow him to kill those humans.

After letting the girl go to join her own kind, he had turned on his camouflage again and had been watching them from a different location among the trees. Listening in on their conversation, he leaned a little forward as the child explained about him to the others. However, they didn't seem to take her seriously, to the predators benefit.

As they began to walk away the hunter stalked them in silence. He took notice of the small human, Cornelia, who kept looking back in his direction. She wouldn't notice him. Predators were known for their stealth while hunting. Even though the humans below weren't his prey at the moment, didn't mean he would let them notice him.

The humans would lead the hunter to their camp where there would be more humans, and if he was lucky, he'd find some fine trophies there. Catcher let out a quiet purr at the thought. He'd been to earth before, and had gotten many great trophies. However, it had turned out to be far more difficult to find violent humans this time around, but he had no idea why…

Catcher kept watching the group below him until they walked through some bushes, before the humans stopped. His heat vision could detect that there had been some kind of struggle or fight going on not too long ago. There was also some blood on the ground that was slowly loosing heat, but there was no sign of any bodies or drag marks, indicating that no lives had been claimed.

The hunter let out a disappointed grunt that went unnoticed by the humans, mainly because they were too busy chit-chatting among themselves. Turning in on their conversation, it turned out the hurt male explained about what had happened to the small female. Apparently, two creatures of the species "jaguars", as the humans called them, had attacked the group.

Curiosity sparked within the stalking predator. How had the humans defended themselves without any weapons?

As the explanation continued, it turned out that they actually had a weapon! And the human that had used it, named "Rodney", as the male told, had wounded one of them after getting away from it. This was all thanks to the adult female of the group, who was now getting many compliments and questions from the child that was holding onto her hand.

The jaguars seemed to have retreated after the unexpected attack and left the humans damaged, but alive.

Catcher let out another grunt. The jaguars had marked the humans as prey, and yet, they let them go as soon as they had met some resistance. Earths predators were nothing compared to his own race, but then again, the jaguars hunted for survival, while he hunted for sports and honor.

New voices could soon be heard and the sounds cut the predators thoughts short. His head lifted from where it had rested on the small group, heat signatures showed in the distance and the hunter let out a few clicking noises. The human camp was close, and from the look of it, there were quite a lot of them.

Even though he could have slipped ahead of the humans walking below him, he decided to follow their pace. Patience would always be one of the most important traits of a hunter, and he was not going to rush this hunt. It would also be better to have all of the humans in one place to keep track of them.

As he reached the second last tree before the clearing, he stopped and leaned down to get a better look at the new surroundings. There seemed to be about twenty-five humans there, some kind of temporary covers set up around the place. Humans were pacing about, doing different tasks and had conversations with each other.

A low growl could be heard as his scans had turned out the way he feared; there were almost no weapons there. Only three hand guns were visible tied to the legs of different males that seemed to be patrolling the outer line of the area, probably guards. The predator shook his head in a disapproving manner; this would simply not do!

Sure, they had weapons, but they would not provide a real hunt for the predator, no real resistance. These humans were not the same violent sort that he had encountered before. They had almost no protection what-so-ever, and it seemed they wouldn't last for two minutes against him.

Catcher sat down with his back against the three, and his head cocked slightly to his right to keep watch of activity in the camp.

What was he going to do now? He had taken a chance with the small child and found the humans he was looking for, but they were not usable in his hunt. The jungle was big, and finding violent prey that could put up a fight would be hard, but surely not impossible.

After thinking about it for a minute, he decided to stay close to the camp for the time being. Maybe he would be able to get some information, directions to other human camps that were more suitable for his taste. So he straightened up into a coaching position and watched as the new arrivals were greeted with another large male. He seemed to be older that the others and had some fresh wounds on different parts of his body, but no serious injury was visible.

The predator listened in on the conversation as the wounded male was handed to another man and went into one of the covers that were placed in the northern part of the camping site. Directing his gaze back to the group, the older male nodded to the young female in an approving manner and started a conversation with her.

Leaning in slightly in a curious manner, the predator leaned his head to the side.

The older human's head suddenly snapped towards the hunter's hiding spot as Catcher froze on the spot.

**To be continued…**


	5. Loveable

_Hia! :3_

_I've used a bit more time on this chapter than the others, mainly because I had writers block XD_

_So, I decided to make this one a bit longer than the other chapters as an excuse ;) _

_And also, thanks a lot for the reviews! It's so much fun to get comments on my story, so don't hesitate if you have any questions or find something I have to correct. ^-^_

_Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 5: Loveable**

Cornelia walked through the last bushes and into the lair, lead by her mother who was walking in front of her. Rodney had come to meet them; he was dirty and had a band-aid wrapped around his upper left arm. Small wounds were visible along his arms as well as a cut along his left cheek. The tall man didn't seem to mind the bruises as he stopped and looked down to Cornelia.

"I see you're safe", was his simple statement before turning to look at Miles and David. He frowned and turned his head shouting for a man to come over to them. Rodney then ordered him to bring the dark-blonde to the doctor who was stationed in one of the smaller tents. David handed the wounded male over to the new guy and watched them stalking away, putting his hands in his pockets out of habit.

Emilia gave Rodney a smile as he turned back his gaze to the woman. "I didn't get to thank you for getting that jaguar off me earlier… Thanks," he told her with respect present in his deep eyes, a smile was also tugging at his lips. Shaking her head lightly in an embarassed manner, she moved her eyes down at her daughter, who was looking back up at her in amazement.

"Mommy beat one of the big kitties?!" Cornelia asked directing her question to Rodney, who was looking down at the awestruck girl. A simple nod from him was the reply she got. "That's right. If she hadn't gotten that jaguar off me, I'm not sure what the outcome would have been…" His eyes got a bit distant for a moment, but returned to normal the next second.

"Hm…" Cornelia tilted her head slightly to the side for a moment before a smile crept up on her face. "Hey, hey! You know what? I met someone in the jungle!" she exclaimed, eager to tell him of her encounter with Catcher.

The dark skinned man blinked in confusion, "What do you mean? There aren't supposed to be any other humans for mil-!"

Rodney stopped in mid sentence and snapped his head to the right in an abrupt manner, startling the three people near him. He suddenly had a serious expression present on his face, and eyes staring intensely up into the jungle. David stared at him for a moment before following his gaze and stared at the same spot as the older man.

There was nothing there.

Shifting his eyes towards Rodney again to confirm that they were looking in the same direction, he held his breath before turning to stare back at the spot. Still nothing could be seen. However David wouldn't relax and tell Rodney to stop trying to fool them, like any other person would have done. He knew the old man wasn't one to joke around with others and try to scare them for a laugh, no, this man was respected for a reason.

The black male had also earned David's trust by being the one to first detect something was wrong before the jaguars attacked. This had probably saved them from getting killed earlier that day. But it was getting dark now, and it was getting harder to see as the sun was beginning to disappear in the horizon.

The tension didn't get any lighter. David and Rodney kept staring at the same spot for a while without moving a muscle. "What do you see?" the younger male questioned, not lifting his gaze. Rodney was silent for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh and turned his body to face the rest of the group, but his eyes refused to leave the spot.

"Nothing…" he replied slowly, "I see nothing… but, my intuition is telling me something different. There is something there." David let his eyes lead him back to Rodney for a while before looking at the girls who had been silent the whole time. Emilia looked worriedly at the both of the males.

As the brown-haired man looked down to Cornelia, he found himself blinking in confusion. The girl was smiling brightly while waving her hand up above her, looking in the same direction as Rodney. Said male seemed to notice this and looked down at Cornelia with a questionable expression, "Who are you waving to?"

The girl stopped waving and turned to Rodney, "Catcher!" she replied in an excited, if not proud manner. "I was worried that he hadn't followed us, but mommy was right! He's probably invisible right now because he doesn't like grown-ups…" Cornelia replied, but her explanation only left the old man even more confused. "Who's this Catcher?"

While Cornelia was busy explaining the same thing she had told her mother earlier, Emilia sneaked up to the bewildered male and whispered into his ear; "Her imaginary friend. Could you please act along with her? She seems really happy about this." Rodney nodded slightly in affirmation.

"I see", he replied as the young blonde was done with her story of how Catcher had saved her from the jaguar and then taken her back to her mother. The girl smiled at his reaction, it seemed liked he had believed her, unlike how Miles had reacted at first.

Rodney cast a glance back at the jungle before turning back to the child before him. "You make sure he doesn't misbehave and damages anything or anyone." Cornelia's face turned serious and she lifted her hand and saluted him, similar to how she had with her mother before. "Yes Sir!" The dark man patted the girl's head lightly with a warm smile present on his face. "Thanks."

Cornelia smiled back up at him before he let her go and turned to walk away. "David, you're coming with me for a bit." He waved at the young man, who complied and followed. The girls looked at their backs until they disappeared behind a tent. Emilia looked around at the jungle surrounding them for a minute before looking up at the darkening sky. "Why don't we get something to eat, and then we'll go to sleep so that we can start exploring early tomorrow?"

The girl nodded, but soon got a troubled expression. "But… what about Catcher? He's probably hungry too!" Her daughter's compassion warmed the woman's heart, even if it was for someone who didn't actually exist. "Aww… Poor Catcher. Maybe we can bring him something from the food storage after we're done eating, what do you say, sweetie?"

"Yeah!" was the reply Emilia got before she took a hold of her daughters hand and led the pair towards the food station. There was set up tables and chairs inside, and a working bench was placed in a corner where an old man was working on making food for the workers. Emilia told her daughter to go get them a table while she picked up some food. Cornelia complied and let go of her mother as she dashed away from her.

Cornelia darted from table to table until she found one that wasn't occupied. She ran over and climbed into the tall chair with a triumphant smile, until a familiar voice sounded from her left. "Hey!" Turning her head to look, her eyes met an irritable expression from Henry.

"I was about to sit down there. Go find yourself another table", he told her in superior manner. Cornelia simply blinked once before shaking her head, "I reached it first, and therefore it's now mine", she declared with a grin, but quickly added, "But if you want to, you can sit here together with me and mommy… If you say "please."

Henrys face turned a bit red with irritation building up within him. "No, I will not sit with you; in fact, I'd rather be in the furthest part of this camp, away from you." With that, the older man turned and stomped away and out of the tent, leaving a shocked Cornelia behind with tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. She bit down on her lower lip to keep her tears from escaping.

"Cornelia? Are you okay, sweetie?" Her mother's concerned voice was heard as she walked up at her side and placed two plates on the table before sitting down in a chair, eyes on the upset girl the whole time. She had seen and heard the episode that had been going on only seconds earlier.

The girl quickly raised her arm and wiped away the tears while nodding once, "Yeah…" a broken voice replied. Slowly removing her arm from her face, Cornelia looked up at her mother with watery eyes. "I-I tried to be nice… to Henry, but he just got m-mad at me", she tried to explain, but her mother only gave a light sigh before leaning in and giving her daughter a small hug. "I know dear, I know…"

Sniffing softly, Cornelia whispered, "I'm hungry…" Emilia blinked once before letting out a suppressed laugh. "Well then, why don't we try out the food I brought?" A nod from her daughter let her know it was okay to let her go, so she pulled back, watching for a few seconds, and then pushing the plate to her.

Soon, half the food was gone as laughter and excited voices filled the tent. Cornelia and Emilia was joking around and telling funny stories from the past, and some of Emilia's friends had turned up and was listening to their story with smiles on all the faces present. The whole incident with Henry was soon forgotten. When all the food had been eaten and the stories had ended, the jungle had turned dark and evening had arrived.

After arriving at the women's sleeping quarter, the girls started getting ready for bed. Cornelia now stood in light blue pajamas pants, matching long sleeved top and a cap, while brushing her teeth humming on a melody. She was standing in the opening as her eyes wandered among the trees in the close distance.

Switching her gaze from the ground toward the open sky above her, she let on a smile. The stars twinkled high up above her in the darkened sky, and a half full moon could be seen as well. Cornelia remembered when she and her parents had once camped outside in the summer, watching the stars for hours while telling cozy stories to each other and had a great time together.

Lost in thought, the girl slowly began to wonder if Catcher would be interested in watching the night sky together with her while telling him a story, since he didn't speak, she would have to be the story teller. The smile suddenly dropped from her face and eyes widened in terror.

Turning on her heal and darting back inside, almost crashing with her mother who was busy changing into her sleepwear. "Mom! Mom! We forgot to get food for Catcher!" she yelled out in panic. The older woman looked bewildered for a moment before she remembered what they had agreed on earlier. "Oh, I completely forgot about that", Emilia stated before fully dressing and bending down to her jumpy daughter, "We have to go give him something to eat! He's probably reaaaaaally hungry now!"

"Calm down, Cornelia. I'm sure Catcher can take care of himself, besides, it' late and we need to get to sleep so that we have the energy to do lots of fun stuff tomorrow", her mother explained and patted her on the head. The child looked disappointed and sad, but slowly nodded her head in understanding.

Emilia smiled and kissed Cornelia's forehead softly. "Thanks sweetie", she whispered as she followed the disappointed girl over to a field bed. Before climbing onto it, Cornelia grabbed a light pink bunny plush form her backpack that was placed on the foot of the bed. Covering herself with a blanket she tucked the bunny under her arm and stared up at her mother.

After getting another kiss on the forehead and a "Good night" from the blonde woman, Cornelia turned in her bed, satisfied. "Good night, mommy", she whispered back before closing her eyes and let herself drift into a deep sleep.

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Eyelids slowly opened and stared upon the darkened room. Slow, deep breathing could be heard as Cornelia's eyes wandered slowly, taking in the surroundings. She sat up in bed and lifted a hand to rub her left eyes in a sleepy gesture.

All the beds were now occupied and everyone seemed to be sleeping peacefully. The blonde girl blinked a few times, wondering why she had woken up. If it was a dream, then she certainly didn't remember it. After a few minutes, sitting in silence, Cornelia discovered that her bunny was missing from her bed.

Climbing down from the bed, she tried to be as quiet as she could be, so that she wouldn't wake any of the sleeping women present. She bent down on all four, looking along the floor trying to spot her missing plushy.

She found it beneath her bed, closest to the cloth-wall. She laid down flat on the floor and crawled closer before reaching out an arm and retrieved it, then pulled back and sat up onto her knees. Studying the pink rabbit for a moment, Cornelia's foggy eyes wandered from it to her backpack that was beside her.

Taking a hold of one of the straps, she pulled it closer before looking down into the backpack. It was filled with the stuff she had brought with her from home: sunglasses, two picture books, a bottle of sun blocker, coloring equipment and a pack of cookies that she had gotten on the airport.

Taking out the cookies, she turned and looked at the sleeping forms around the room before getting back up on her feet and wandered over to the door opening that was a cloth hanging down from the roof. Sliding through it, she left the tent with her bunny tucked under her arm and the pack of cookies held in her hand.

Cornelia stopped outside the door and held up the pack closer to her face as she grabbed a cookie from the pack, putting it her mouth before taking a bite. She kept holding up the package as she glanced around the empty camping site for a moment. There was no life except for a guard that was sitting by a fire while reading a book. He was stationed some distance from Cornelia so he didn't seem to have noticed her.

She looked up to the starry sky above her while chewing absentmindedly on the snack, not paying much attention to the world around her. After finishing her cookie she stared down at the rest of her nightly-snack. She wasn't really all that hungry, just wanted something to set her teeth into. A thought suddenly hit her and eyes widened as she went from half-asleep to fully awake in under three seconds.

Turning to look at the trees towering above her at the edge of the lair, Cornelia started making her way towards them. Carefully, she tiptoed her way forward, trying not to make any noise that would attract the guard's attention to the small child. She soon reached the edge without any trouble, but cast a last glance towards the guard, who turned a page in the book without knowing of Cornelia's midnight trip. The girl turned and sneaked away from the camp.

After getting past the few layers of plants, the girl looked over her shoulder to check if anyone had followed her. A smile spread across her face before she darted further into the resting jungle. Only after getting some distance behind her, she stopped up in a small clearing. The moonlight was shining through openings in between the treetops, lighting up the surroundings enough for the girl to see in the dark.

Cornelia lifted her arm, holding the bunny up to her chest in anticipation and rigged her head back to look up. Turning her head from right to left, she started searching the woods around her. There was no movement in the area, and no sound could be heard except for the insects' low chirpering. Minutes went by as Cornelia started to worry, shifting her footing she looked back towards the direction of the lair, wondering if she would be heard if she called out for the one she was waiting for.

The girl started to wonder if going out of the camp in the middle of the night had been such a good idea. Somehow, it had felt like it would be safe, since Catcher was supposed to be out there. But what if Catcher wasn't there anymore? What if he had left?

The thought struck the seven-year-old like a hammer, and she felt tears threatening to fill her eyes. Even though she hadn't known Catcher for more than a day, she had grown quite found of the creature and wanted to know more about him. She turned her gaze to watch a tree while fighting back her tears.

She opened her mouth and let out a soft whisper, "Catcher." No movement was detected as the girl grew more anxious. Filling her lungs with air, the girl called into the dark jungle, but kept the volume to the level that she wouldn't be heard back at the camp. "Catcher!"

Cornelia stared forward while waiting for a response. Seconds ticked by and it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Heartbroken, the blonde directed her watery eyes down to the ground. He must have left already. The girl couldn't help but sniff softly and hug the pink plushy tighter to her chest as if to comfort herself.

She stood still for a few seconds, wondering where her new friend could have gone and what he was doing now. The answers to those questions made themselves soon known as a series of low clicking sounds were heard behind the girl. She let out a gasp of surprise as her head snapped back up at the noise and she turned around.

There was nothing behind her, and Cornelia got a puzzled expression playing across her face before remembering Catcher's ability to turn invisible. A smile found her way to her lips as all her previous worries were lifted. "Catcher! You're here!" the young child cheered while throwing her hands up into the air in an excited manner, with the pink bunny in her right hand and the pack of cookies in the left.

Nothing seemed to happen during the next second however, but the girl waited patiently in the same position as before. The air before her suddenly rippled as the invisible field seemed to peel off the tall humanoid, making Cornelia smile even brighter. He stood about two metres ahead of her and stared down at the child, tilting his head slightly to the left, studying her for a moment.

Cornelia let her hands fall down before taking two steps forward, watching her steps so that her bare feet wouldn't step on anything sharp. As she stopped, her head tilted back so that she could look up on Catcher who was still looking down at her through the glass that covered his eyes. The girl watched him and studied his appearance as she noticed details that she hadn't paid attention to before. Not that she had had much time to do so in between hanging upside-down and flying through the trees.

On both his wrists there were attached some kind of thick long bracelet, on the right, two crooked parallel knifes stuck out. The left was the one he had used earlier that day when he had turned invisible, it was a panel that could be opened. His belt was filled with different kinds of equipment, although the girl didn't recognize any of it as something she knew of.

Curiosity filled Cornelia as she lifted her gaze to the metal mask, "What are those?" she asked wanting to point her finger at them, but found that both her hands were occupied. Luckily, Catcher knew what she was referring to and looked down to his belt then looked back to the girl, letting out a series of clicking sounds.

The blonde raised a brow, not understanding what he had told her, and tried a new approach. "Can you show me what those are for?" He stared down at her, debating whether to do as the small human requested or not.

After a few seconds of thinking, Catcher complied and pulled up a metal disc that had been placed on his left side and turned back to Cornelia who leaned slightly forward, watching with interest. Suddenly the disk expanded six twisted blades as Catcher activated the weapon, making the young girl jump back in surprise and ended up walling onto her back after losing her balance.

As Cornelia landed, she could hear a thrilling laughter above her and she stared wide-eyed up at the weapon, wielded by an amused hunter. The girl kept staring as she lifted herself off the ground and took a step closer as Catcher stopped his laughing and regarded the girl, wondering what her next move would be.

She surprised him when she raised a hand toward the blades to touch them, but she never got the chance as Catcher jerked it out of her reach and emitted a warning growl. Cornelia quickly withdrew her hand at both the motion and the angry sound. He clearly didn't want her touching it.

Catcher let out another growl, this one with more of a disapproving tone. With a swift motion of his hand, the disk drew back three of the blades. He did so once more and the disc returned to its original form, and was then placed back on the dark-brown belt.

Cornelia stared up at him with a sad look on her face, afraid that he was angry at her. She quickly looked to the ground as his gaze turned back to her. The girl held tightly onto her plushy with both hands and kept her eyes fixed on her feet, blinking in confusion as a thought crossed her mind and Cornelia looked up slightly, scanning the ground around her. Where had her cookies gone?

She located them a few feet to her left; she probably lost them when Catcher had startled her with the bladed disc. She jogged over to it before bending down and picked it up. Looking back over her shoulder, she took notice of the humanoid watching her. Standing back up, she walked back to him and held out the pack towards him. "Umm… I brought you something to eat", she told him, and uncertain about whether he would accept them or not.

Catcher stared at it for a moment before his dark scaled hand reached out and grasped the pack, lifting it to his eyelevel while studying it carefully. Cornelia waited as she held the bunny tight to her chest in anticipation. He suddenly let out a grunt and threw the snack over his shoulder. "Ah…" Cornelia ran past Catcher and picked up the cookies before looking back at him, "Mommy says you shouldn't throw things out in the nature. You've got to find a trash bin and throw it there!"

"Besides, if you don't want it, I'll have it", the girl told him in a stern manner, disliking the idea of throwing away her snacks. Catcher tilted his head at the small human while emitting a familiar clicking noise. Cornelia stared at him for a while, but lowered her eyelids slightly as the excitement started to fade away, she was getting tired and would have to go back to bed and sleep soon. However, she wanted to stay with Catcher a bit longer, so she looked around for a bit before sitting down and letting her back rest on the leaf covered ground.

She was lying right under an opening through the trees above her, and the stars were present through the hole. Her eyes darted to the left as Cather moved in closer, wondering what she was doing. Cornelia lifted her hand up and pointed to the sky, "I'm watching the stars", she explained as Catcher followed her gaze before looking back down at her. "I think they're really pretty… Mommy used to sing me a song about them; do you want to hear it?"

Cornelia looked at him through tired eyes. He didn't respond, so the young girl looked back up to the sky drawing a slow calm breath.

"…Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high… like a diamond in the sky", her light voice sang with melody present at her words, blinking with heavy eyelids.

"When the blazing sun is gone, when there nothing shines upon, then you show your little light… Twinkle, twinkle, all the night… Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your little spark…" Cornelia slowed her singing and closed her eyes while her voice subsided.

The tired girl turned her head slightly to the left, resting it upon her plushy that had been lying on her shoulder. She felt a presence kneel down beside her, and smiled slightly. "Good night, Catcher…" she softly whispered as the world darkened around her and she fell asleep.

**To be continued…**

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_Just a quick question about the next chapter, Do you guys want me to start from Catchers POV? Or should i just timeskip till morning?_

_You decide! :)_


	6. Silent Night

_Yo! Sorry for being late with this chapter and keeping you guys waiting :P I've had a serious writing block these last 2 weeks and I was on vaication with my aunt for some time too. oh! and thanks for all the reviews :) Voice your options people!_

_Now... Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 6: Silent Night**

The light song filled the air surrounding the two creatures out in the jungle. Stars' twinkling in the sky above and the air was cool after the warming sun had left hours earlier. The small girl lying on the green ground was slowing her melody, as her eyes blinked heavily a couple of times.

The humanoid above her stared down at her, but kept from making any sound that would interrupt the human. Her heartbeat was steadily slowing and her body relaxed, before her singing faded away and her body turned to the side while hugging onto the thing she had been holding onto ever since she had entered the jungle earlier.

Catcher took a still step closer before kneeling down to get a closer look at the small creature that had decided to call upon him. It had puzzled the hunter, how this little human seemed so unafraid of him, while the adults became terrified at the sight of him. That is to say, if they ever saw him at all before his blades cut through them, ending their lives for the hunt and becoming trophies hanging on the wall.

"Good night Catcher…" a soft voice whispered, and the predator studied the girl as she fell into a resting state with a comfortable expression upon her face. Silence filled the area for the next minutes. Only Cornelia's deep breath could be heard as Catcher kept watching the sleeping form before him.

This creature was weird. It dropped its defenses so easily it was funny, if she had any defense to begin with… The reason this human child was still alive would have to be because it was guarded by other more capable humans, like the older female of the group, who seemed to be the girl's main guardian, even though the musculature indicated that it wasn't particularly strong.

The oldest male of the human group seemed to be a better choice of guardian. Not only was he strong and fast, but he seemed to have a good instinct too. Being able to sense the predator earlier that day proved that. In fact, the human would be a perfect prey to hunt and would actually provide the sport the humanoid had come to this planet for.

As tempting as it was, Catcher wouldn't try to take the human down, at least not yet. The male didn't have any weapons at the moment, and a dead body would only cause mass panic among the rest of the humans. Something that would only rule out any chance of them leading him to a violent human group, which would provide a much more satisfying kill.

Slowly rising to a standing position, Catcher continued to look down at the girl for a couple of seconds before raising his gaze to scan the surrounding area. His heat vision picked up on a long and thin creature that was moving across the jungle floor, not too far from the small clearing. There were also other different heat signatures further away from his position.

Similar to Catcher, it seemed like most of earth's predators took advantage of the night to hunt for prey in the dark. Turning his head to look at the sleeping girl, he let out an annoyed grunt. She would be easy prey for the hungry animals patrolling the area, and her death would only cause more problems for the hunter.

Catcher turned and walked over to Cornelia before bending down and sliding both arms under her body, carefully as not to wake her up. She stirred for a moment, but soon fell still as he lifted her up. The hunter stood up and shifted her over to lay her against his chest with a strong left arm under her. Even though he had wanted to just carry her under his arm like earlier, the motion would surely have woken her up, something that would only be a bother.

Keeping his right arm free on his side, he stared down at Cornelia who seemed comfortable in the new position. Emitting a low clicking sound, Catcher turned towards the humans' lair before walking in a stealthy and silent manner along the ground. Making his way forward he only slowed as he came to the edge of the camp.

The humans were divided into two different tents where they all seemed to be resting for the night. Only one single male was keeping watch, but did a poor effort in it as he seemed to be too occupied with some kind of object he was holding on to. Sneaking in would be easy, even without camouflage, but Catcher wouldn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

Shifting Cornelia's position slightly, he gained access to the computer on his wrist and opened it before typing in the code. The invisible field didn't cover the young girl, but that wasn't a problem. Moving into the camp, Catcher moved along the tents, out of sight from the male that was keeping watch.

Finding his way to the tent where the females rested, Catcher slipped through the opening without making any noise. He stopped up to check on the signatures of the humans, all heartbeats were slow, indicating that they wouldn't wake up for the time being.

Satisfied, the predator made his way to an empty bed with a faint heat signature still present on it and a blanket that was folded at the end of the bed. Kneeling down to get on a more even level, Catcher, as gently as possible, transferred the resting human from his arm to the bed.

Cornelia let out a soft sigh as she hugged the thing in her hands a little tighter to her body. The hunter cocked his head slightly before standing back up and was about to turn and leave, but stopped. He threw a look toward a nearby bed a before turning back to Cornelia. The humans seemed to cover themselves with a piece of cloth while sleeping, and it would have seen out of place if the young human was the only who didn't have one too.

Reaching out his arm, he grabbed the cloth that had been on the foot of the bed and dragged it over the sleeping form. A small smile formed on her lips seeming satisfied with this action. Catcher stood tall by the side of the bed for a few more seconds, studying the girl. He then turned and started making his way back out of the tent without a second glance to the sleeping child, and slipped out into the dark jungle.

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Cornelia blinked tiredly as daylight lit up the not-so-lightproof-tent. Turning in her bed, she looked around through half-closed eyes. Most of the beds were empty and made, but a few women were still trying to get as much sleep as possible before heading out into the new day. Blinking some more to help her eyesight get used to the surroundings, the girl lifted her head to look over to her mother's bed. It turned out to be empty.

Pushing the blanked off her, Cornelia sat up and let her feet dangle over the edge while she picked up the bunny that had been lying by her pillow. Holding it up in front of her foggy eyes, she stared at it for a moment before the memories of the night before entered her head. The girl brightened noticeably and the sleepy child woke up with a new found cheerfulness.

Jumping off the edge, her bare feet hit the ground and soon found their way to her mother's bag, where all her clothes were. She opened it before she started digging around for some clothes to wear. Picking out a light blue t-shirt and black shorts along with a pair of socks, the girl made her way back to her bed where she took off her pajamas and put on the new clothes.

Putting the nightwear beneath her pillow and the pink bunny sitting on top, the seven-year-old smiled and pulled on her boots before running out of the tent. Halting to a stop and then turned around, Cornelia made her way back to the opening with a grin. "Wake up! It's morning!" she shouted, abruptly waking the women present. Some of them let out an exhausted sigh while others muttered a "Good morning" in return.

Pleased with the reply, the young girl smiled and let the clothing door fall back to cover the opening. Turning to the outside world, Cornelia started to wander off in search for her mother. She found her by the doctors' tent, in the middle of a conversation with Rodney.

Making her way over to them with a smile on her face, Cornelia ran the last part before she threw her hands around her mothers' legs. The surprised woman jerked at the contact and threw a look down to see what it was that had trapped her legs. A soft smile made its way to her lips as she stared down in the face of her smiling daughter. "Good morning, mommy!"

"Good morning to you too, sweet heart." Emilia replied as she patted the girls head in a loving manner. Cornelia let go of her mother after getting the attention she had wanted. She then turned to Rodney and waved up at him. "Morning!"

The dark skinned man smiled a small smile to the bright child, "Morning", he answered. Cornelia looked from the old man to her mother and back again before voicing the question that was playing around in her mind, "What are you two doing?"

Emilia was the first to reply and smiled slightly, "We were discussing about what we should do today and about Miles and Sarah…" Recognition beamed in the child's eyes as the name of her new friend was said. "Is Miles okay? Where is he?" Tilting her body a little to look past her mother and to the doctor's tent, she pointed to it then looked up to the adults. "Is he in there?"

Rodney nodded to the impatient girl, "He is, we were about to go see him. Do you want to join us?" he offered, making Cornelia jump up and down in excitement, "Yes, yes please!" Rodney grinned and turned to the tent opening before he lifted the cloth away. However, before he could move inside, the small blonde zoomed past him to get inside first.

Emilia giggled at her daughter's actions, and the dumbfounded expression on Rodney's face didn't help in stopping the laugh either. Slipping in after Cornelia, the woman waited for Rodney to enter before they made their way over to a desk where the doctor sat. He was wearing a white coat and had round glasses as well as a beard and curly red hair. He had a expression of confusion and surprise as he seemed to watch an empty place to his left, probably where had Cornelia ran past him and out of sight, due to the cloth walls that was separating the different beds.

Noticing the new arrivals, the doctor turned to the two adults. "Ah, Rodney and Mrs. Campbell, I have been expecting you", the man greeted in a British accent as he stood from the chair and faced them with a warm smile.

Rodney nodded, "Hey there, Charles. How are the patients?" The red middle aged man kept his warm smile and opened his mouth to answer. However, he was interrupted by a set of loud laughs that came from behind one of the sliding walls. Turning to watch the wall that separated them from the two people behind it, Emilia got an amused look on her face before she walked over to it. "Well, at least one of them is in high spirits..."

Grasping the edge of the white cloth, the woman dragged it aside to reveal Miles and Cornelia sitting on a bed facing her, both with huge grins on their faces. "Or what do you say, Miles?" Emilia questioned with a playing tone in her voice. The man was about to reply, but the girl sitting across him beat him to it. "Hi mommy!" Cornelia greeted with a short wave, "Miles just told me about his plan to escape from here. He says the doctor is really boring."

The dark blonde threw an accusing glance towards the girl, and leaned over to her while telling her in a hushed voice, "You weren't supposed to tell them that. Especially not the doc himself..." Risking a side glance toward the left, Miles could spot the redhead with a smart smirk on his face, something that was definitively not considered a good sign.

"Oh? Is that so, Mr. Crosby?" Charles asked with a fake kindness in his voice while stepping forward. Miles threw Rodney and Emilia a pleading look, asking for help. The two of them exchanged a glance before giving the patient a shrug, indicating that they were no help what-so-ever. Panicking slightly as the doctor drew closer, Miles looked around the room for a solution to the approaching danger, and found it sitting beside him.

Picking up a triumphant grin, Miles grabbed Cornelia and lifted her up, earning a surprised, but amused squeal. Holding an arm around her neck to hold her in place and the other up in front to stop the doctor, he shouted in a mimicking manner, "Halt there, O' fair knight! One step closer and this fair maiden will suffer the consequences in the hands of me, the evil duke Cross!", ending the sentence with an evil laughter.

Cornelia giggled loudly at first, but then joined the play. "Help me O' fair Knight! I have been taken captive by this evil man!" the girl shouted in an over-dramatic way, "Oh please save me!" she pleaded with a hurt look, but could hold up the act much longer and fell into another fit of giggles. Charles threw Miles a look of annoyance, "Honestly! Can't you act a bit more mature?"

The dark blonde simply smirked in response, "Fine, then! I shall take this fair maiden with me to my castle where we will live for the rest of our lives!" Cornelia was now laughing openly with tears at the corner of her eyes. The doctor finally gave in and let out a tired sigh, "Fine, do whatever you want. I have some work to do anyways", he told them before turning and left for his desk.

"Yes! Victory is mine!" Miles declared and punched his fist up into the air, earning him a set of applause from his small captive. Emilia and Rodney simply smiled at the two while they celebrated the victory. The one who finally spoke turned out to be Rodney as he stepped up to the side of the bed. "I see you're feeling better already. How's the wound?" he asked, causing the pair to look up at the old man. "Ah, I'm good, thanks!" Miles replied with confidence as he slacked his hold on Cornelia, so that she could move more freely. "The wound wasn't as deep as first thought, so I should be back in action by tomorrow."

Giving Miles an unconvinced glance, Rodney tilted his head slightly. "I don't think I really believe in that statement… are you sure you're not only trying to get out of here faster?" Miles got a disapproving look on his face. "Hey! If you don't believe me, then ask the doc over there" he defended, pointing toward the desk where the redhead was writing in a notebook.

Staring at each other for a few seconds, Rodney gave in to the headstrong blonde and shifted his body slightly to the side, "Fine." Miles got a triumphant smile on his face and then turned to Emilia, "So? What have you guys been up to?" The blonde woman simply smiled and answered with a simple; "Oh nothing much."

Cornelia tilted her head back to look up at Miles with a smile, "I visited Catcher last night!" she exclaimed, causing three pair of eyes to stare at her. She was about to continue, but suddenly remembered that she was actually not allowed to walk into the jungle without company. Luckily for her, Miles came to her rescue. "Oh? Really? So once I get grounded, you run off to him while leaving me all alone and lonely?" He offered a hurt expression that didn't seem all that convincing.

Giving the young man a sweet smile, Cornelia replied with a loving tone, "Ohhhh, I didn't know you were lonely, Miles. And you and Catcher are my precious friends, so I want to have fun with both of you", the child explained, giving Miles a thoughtful look. "Well… alright then." He agreed and gave Cornelia a hug. "But remember that I am your number one friend."

Cornelia giggled and hugged him back, "I think you're both number one." The dark blonde seemed annoyed by this fact, but a smile spread across his face before too long. "Oh yeah? Well what about if I take you for a swim in the river that is not so far from here?" he offered, and the child brightened as she stared up at him in wonder, "Really? We can do that?"

"Hey, Crosby! Don't go deciding things yourself", Rodney suddenly shouted with an annoyed look. "Oh come on! Why not? I know of one location where the water is shallow and there aren't any predators in the water", Miles countered with a pleading look. "Yeah, Can't we go mom? Please?" Cornelia begged folding her hands together while giving Emilia her puppy dog eyes.

The woman hesitated for a moment before she sighed, "Fine, I'll ask some of the others if they want to join us. Who knows? Maybe we'll even find some of the plants we are searching for down there." Cornelia and Miles let out a cry of joy before beginning to plan for what they were going to do and when they should leave.

Shaking her head in a humored manner, Emilia turned to the exit and turned her head to look back at her daughter. "Cornelia, we need to go get some breakfast now. You can come back to visit Miles afterwards." At first, the girl argued and wanted to stay, until her stomach rumbled and changed her mind.

Jumping down from the bed, Cornelia ran over to her mother and grabbed her hand she started to make her way out of the tent. Before they disappeared outside, Cornelia looked back and waved to Miles with a smile on her lips. The ex-duke lifted up a hand in returned and winked at her with a grin plastered on his face.

Cornelia grinned before she left through the opening and headed for the food tent, planning to be back at her friend's side as soon as her stomach was full.

**To be Continued...**


	7. Flower

_Hah! This chapter really took its sweet time XD I didn't have any insperation to write for a while now, just wanted to keep skipping through the timeline, but that would create some plot holes... so i forced myself to write again, thats probably why this chapter turned out so short._

_oh, and check out the drawing i made of Cornelia :) The link is in my profile!_

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Chapter 7: Flower

A few hours had passed since the hostage situation earlier that day. The original plan was for Emilia and Cornelia to go together with a group that was going out in the jungle to collect different kinds of plants. However, Cornelia had requested to stay behind at the camp together with Miles, saying that it would be more fun with him.

Emilia agreed, letting her daughter stay with Miles as long as they promised not to do anything that would cause more damage to his leg. The woman herself had decided to join her co-workers in the expedition and left shortly after.

The two friends had spent the time mostly talking and playing together, and from time to time they would fool around with the doctor. Sadly he had left after their last prank, leaving them without anyone else to fool around with. They now sat in Miles's bed talking eagerly about different subjects. Currently they were in a conversation about a certain invisible creature.

"-And when I woke up this morning, I was back in my bed again!" Cornelia exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air in a dramatic gesture. "So Catcher must have carried me back, but he forgot to bring my cookies with him…" she finished explaining as her hands fell back onto her lap. The girl had told Miles about the previous night, on the condition that he wouldn't tell her mother or anyone else. After all, she wasn't supposed to walk into the jungle alone.

Miles had sat listening to her, throwing in a comment from time to time, lifting a hand to his chin and adding a thoughtful expression to his act, thinking through the story he had just been told. "Hmm… I guess he isn't as bad as I first though. But that still doesn't mean that you can go make him your number one friend!" the blonde replied with a little defensive tone added to the last sentence.

Cornelia giggled at his statement before giving him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, you are both my best friends! Even if Catcher has many funny things, like the metal Frisbee with knifes." Miles gave a light sigh and suddenly switched to a more serious face. "Cornelia, look… you said you went into the forest alone, something you promised your mother you wouldn't do. And even if you say Catcher was there, didn't mean that it wasn't dangerous." This change of subject mad Cornelia look down at her hands with a saddened expression. "I know… I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

The silence dragged on for a short while. Thinking it was a bit strange for Miles to be so quiet, Cornelia glanced up and saw a stupid grin on the face in front of her. "… Metal Frisbee with knifes?" he asked with obvious amusement and humor in his voice. The child put up a grin as well before both of them let out a wave of laughter.

XxX

"Are you sure this is alright? What if he catches you?" Cornelia's concerned voice asked where she stood at the tent opening, looking back at Miles who was crouching down beside her. He simply winked at her with a grin as a reply. Originally, Miles wasn't supposed to leave his bed, but after 'borrowing' one of the crutches, he had insisted on escaping from the "doctor's evil clutches", as he had said it.

Lurking by the door opening, both of them stuck their head out to check if the coast was clear. If they met anyone, there would be a chance that they would tell on them to the redheaded doctor, something that they needed to avoid. "No one can catch me if I don't want them too", Miles whispered as a man walked by the tent. Soon after Cornelia checked for clearance before nodding, "It's clear."

Lifting himself up with the help of the crutch, Miles limped outside into the afternoon sun with Cornelia in the lead. She ran ahead to check around the corner of one of the tent, sticking her head past the edge, then turned back to Miles with a hand sign he had taught her, telling that the coast was clear.

As Miles sneaked up beside the little girl and kneeled down a little behind her. She turned her head to look at her partner in crime. "Where do we go now?" she questioned. The blonde got a thoughtful look, and then shrugged with a sorry expression, "I haven't thought about that part yet, mainly, I just wanted to get outside."

Cornelia gave him a stern look, which looked extremely amusing on a seven-year-old. Putting her hand on a hip she continued to stare at him. "If you want to escape you need a place to hide, even I know that!" she scolded her partner, who let on a sweet smile as a reply. "Well then, do you have an idea where I could hide?"

Getting a puzzled look, Cornelia looked from side to side trying to think of something, "Umm… what about the tent me and mommy sleeps in? There is no one there at the moment."

"Nah, not only aren't I allowed in there, but it kind of defeats the purpose if we hide inside", Miles pointed out. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped as he saw she sheepish look on Cornelia's face as she seemed to look up at something behind him.

"…There is someone right behind me, isn't there?" Miles sweat dropped before he slowly turned his head as Cornelia nodded in affirmation. Standing with her hands on her hips, similar to what Cornelia had done earlier, stood Emilia with a smug look on her face. "And where do you think you are going?"

"Umm… nowhere?" Miles tried out with a hesitant smile. His reply was a short laugh as the woman took a step closer and kneeled down to get on the escapist's eyelevel. "That's right, and if you don't stay that way and rest your leg for today, I won't let you two go bathing tomorrow." The partners in crime both let out a gasp of terror, and Cornelia quickly ran up to her mother and stared at her with a saddened look. "But we have to go to the river! I and Miles have already made plans about what we are going to do! Miles even told me he'd teach me how to swim!"

Emilia's expression softened a bit before she patted her daughters head. "Okay then, but Miles has to stay in bed for the rest of the day", she told them and fixed a stern gaze on Miles who wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry. "Yay! We can go swimming!" Cornelia shouted out in happiness, making Miles decide that the option to laugh was the best choice.

"Before you go back to bed, you should come and see what we found", Emilia suggested as she stood up to her full height. Both Cornelia and Miles noticed her tone that had hinted to that they had found something interesting on her expedition. After pushing himself up, Miles followed the blonde woman together with her daughter.

* * *

Pushing aside the cloth in the tent opening, Emilia held it up for Miles and Cornelia so they could pass, before letting it fall back into place. They were currently in the research area where a couple scientists were stalking around at a fast pace, stopping at different stations before returning to a desk that seemed to hold something of their interest.

Cornelia and Miles waited together as Emilia walked over to ask one of her co-workers something. Probably, her companions could observe what they had found out in the jungle. It only took a minute before the blonde returned and guided them over to where the others had gathered. Two of them stepped aside so that the newcomers could get access to the desk.

Emilia gave a grin to her daughter and Miles as their eyes landed on the object placed in front of them. It was a flower. Red pedals stood up and out, where it split in three different directions and the color faded into a creamy white tone. The leaves at the root were round and big compared to the flower.

Cornelia let out a soft "wow…" causing Miles to look her way. It was a pretty flower, and Cornelia had already taken a liking to it. "So… what is this thing called? It must be rare since you guys seem so excited about it", Miles remarked.

The woman gave a humorous smile to him before giving him an answer, "We don't know what it's called." Miles blinked as a puzzled look came across his face, before he realized what she was trying to say. "You mean that it's a new kind?" he asked in wonder, steering his eyes back at the red plant. Emilia simply gave a short nod before turning to look at it, "Yes, no one has ever seen this type of plant before. Who knows? Maybe this will hold the answer to curing cancer", she winked jokingly down at her daughter, who had turned to look up at her mother.

"Mrs. Campbell?" The group of three turned to the direction where the voice had come from, and saw one of the scientists making his way towards them. "I certainly do hope you don't plan on bringing in any more visitors, its distracting for those who try to do their job." He told her with an apologetic smile. Emilia took the hint and gestured to her companions, "Don't worry, I was just going to show them what we found, we'll be leaving now."

They soon left the tent with Emilia holding Cornelia's hand. They practically had to drag her out of there to get her eyes away from the flower. At the moment she was looking back over her shoulder, somehow hoping that she would get x-ray vision and be able to see the red plant again. After having snuck Miles back into his bed in the doctor's tent, the two females made their way to the shared tent where they would be getting their dinner.

Cornelia was in a good mood; not only had she been witness to a new beautiful flower, but the next day they would go swimming. Things were definitely looking bright. Maybe she should even invite Catcher to go swimming with them. The chances of that however, were slim, seeing that Catcher didn't seem to like showing himself to the grown-ups.

Lifting her gaze to the darkening sky, Cornelia smiled to herself. Tomorrow would certainly be an exciting day. Oh, if she only could have known at that moment… what the next day would bring.

**To be continued…**


	8. River

_Hia! :D Sorry for the long wait... had writers block again (and being lazy as usual). _

_I promise the next chapter will be up sooner, mainly because it will be more fun for me to write it... You'll understand what i mean after you have read this Chapter ;)_

_Also! Please vote in the poll I have set up in my profile that asks wither I should write a sequel to this story once I'm done, but dont worry, I still have a good deal of story left to tell in this one._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: River**

"Come on! Walk faster! We're almost there!" A happy voice sounded from the jungle floor, making a cloaked hunter to look down at the child who was running in front of a small group of humans. He had followed them against his better judgement, after getting an invitation to join them from the girl in the lead. She and the older male she seemed to hang around had stepped into the jungle earlier that day. Cornelia had shouted out that they were going somewhere and added that he could come too if he wanted. She hadn't gotten a reply, but the predator had a feeling that she knew he was there.

She had stopped to look around, searching for the invisible follower a couple of times, but Catcher was too well hidden for the youngling to spot him. He kept a certain distance from the humans, but was always close enough to tune in on their conversation. The wary hunter also kept watch on the old male who had been in the lead, until the girl had gotten impatient and was now skipping a few feet ahead of him.

Earlier he had learned that the male's name was 'Rodney', and seemed to be the leader of the small human group. They showed him respect and followed his decisions when he ordered something. He was smart and had good senses, something that created a few problems for the hunter. Cornelia wasn't the only one looking about, Rodney eyes seemed to wander the jungle around him at all times, searching for movement or anything out of the ordinary.

The main reason Catcher had decided to follow was to search for other humans, and it wasn't like he had anything better to do. In all honesty, the situation was beginning to irk the predator. He wanted to hunt, wanted to get a decent resistance when attacking and last, but not least, he wanted a get trophies. There had been a couple of times where he had been tempted to simply hunt the humans he was with now. After all, Rodney would have made an honorable trophy. If only he was as violent as other humans and had weapons…

In the end, Catcher had decided to wait. An unhonorable kill was a kill he didn't need or want. There was also Cornelia, a child and female. She would definitely get in the way of his killing spree, and if he accidently ended up killing her, he wasn't sure if he would be able to face the elders or any of his comrades, so the whole idea was soon abandoned.

Aside from the two in front, the child's parent was present, both males from the time he had met Cornelia and two other females which he hadn't seen before. One of the males was using some kind of pole to support his bodyweight, obviously trying not to put too much pressure on one of the legs which seemed to be injured.

The group soon reached a river where they stopped and sat down their bags and backpacks, before they then split into doing different activities. Catcher sat in a tree close to their position, a few feet away from the river. The ground closest to the water was free of any trees or tall plants, just the way the hunter wanted it. Nothing blocked his view and he wouldn't be too close to the water. The substance could be used to deactivate his cloaking device, and if the humans saw him… well, let's just say his options would become more limited.

For now, he decided to stay put and observe the creatures beneath him. He sincerely hoped that his patient would pay off in the near future.

XxX

"Okay, I've changed! Can we go into the water now?" Cornelia asked as soon as she stepped out from behind a bush together with her mother, who carried a small backpack around her left arm.

Cornelia had changed into a pink swimsuit with the decoration of a light blue flower placed on the middle of the chest. She happily jogged over Miles who stood by David in just shorts which he intended to swim in. His leg had a bandage around it, but it was covered with a tight plastic that would prevent the wound form getting wet and infected.

Miles smiled at her as the girl stopped at his side and stared up at him with big blue eyes. "Before we go, we need to set a few ground rules…" he started. Cornelia simply nodded to show she understood. She was starting to get used to getting told what she should and shouldn't do in the new surroundings she had entered a few days ago.

"One; you will stay close to me at all times, no more than nine feet away. Two; when I or anyone else says we'll leave, we packs up and leave. And finally, three…" The blonde girl waited impatiently for Miles to finish his sentence. Instead, he grinned widely before turning to jog towards the water, "Last one in has to tell Henry a bed time story tonight!"

Cornelia's mouth fell open in surprise before she realized the last thing he had said. Eyes widened in horror: there was NO WAY she would read a story to that old, rude rust bucket! Her legs started to move as she broke into a run so that she could catch up to the blonde ahead of her. She may have had shorter legs, but Miles had an injured leg that limited his speed.

David stared at the duo as they both threw themselves into the water at the same time. They soon stood back up, as the water only reached Cornelia's waist. "Who won?!" the hyper seven-year-old asked Miles, who replied with a slick grin as he pointed to himself. The horror in the girls eyes was enough to make David let out a couple of small laughs. She REALLY didn't want to go near Henry again, not that he blamed her. The man had been a little mean towards the child ever since he had laid eyes on her, but the reason behind it was unknown to the dark haired male.

"You cheated!! You started before me!" Cornelia exclaimed as she pointed an accusing finger up at her swimming partner. "Hey! I'm hurt, so I need a handicap!" Miles defended as he started to make his way into the deeper part of the river, but not longer than to where it reached his stomach. Following after him, Cornelia let out a displeased "hmm."

Miles was clearly the winner of this battle, David thought with a smile as he watched them splashing water at each other. It wasn't until a few second into the water fight that he noticed the female redhead beside him. He turned his head to look up on her, seeing that he had been sitting on a small rock for a while. The green eyes covered with glasses stood staring at the duo with a sad expression.

David had been surprised when she had decided to come with them again on this trip. Sarah had been with them when they were attacked, and had been the one most affected by the incident. He was about to question her, but she spoke up as soon as David mouth opened. "You're surprised I'm here, aren't you?" her light voice asked without turning to look at him. "Everyone else went on with this expedition after the attack, and I don't want to be the only one to stop and let this affect me any longer." she explained with a sad, but determinate expression. David stared up at her face, but decided not to say anything. Certain things were better left unsaid.

Turning his head back to look at the two in the river, he took notice of that they had calmed down somewhat, and Miles was now trying to teach Cornelia how to swim. He kept demonstrating with his arms and legs, while giving her useful information she would need to know when she tried. The pair sat watching from a distance without another word for some minutes, before Sarah decided to break the silence again.

"They shouldn't make a joke out of Henry, even if he is a little grumpy at times… he has his reasons." the redhead spoke, never diverting her gaze from the two in front of her. "What do you mean?" another female voice questioned, and David turned to look up at Emilia Campbell. He had a feeling that the gods didn't want to hear his voice today, seeing as every time he was about to say something, he got interrupted.

Sarah waited until Emilia was at their side before giving a tired sigh and closing her eyes. "As you may know, I have been working together longer with Henry than any of you. And I know why he is being so hostile against Cornelia or any other girl at that age for that matter." Emilia and David turned their gaze to the woman, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"It's probably because she reminds him of his own daughter."

Emilia and David looked at each other with confused looks. "If I remember correctly, Henry divorced five years ago… Does that mean that his wife took his daughter with her?" Emilia guessed and was met with a sad smile from Sarah. "If only that was the case… but no, that's not it. You see, his daughter died five years ago."

Silence. They all want silent as the redhead's words reached them. Shock was present in their expressions: this was something they hadn't expected. "She was only six years old when she got hit by a car as she and her father were out on a walk one afternoon. Crystal died at impact, she couldn't be saved." With her eyes focused on the ground, Emilia felt a single tear run down her cheek after hearing the story. David sat with folded hands as he kept his eyes straight ahead, but they seemed empty.

"He is probably reminded of her every time he sees Cornelia and how he couldn't save her. So he wants to push her away, so that he can forget… if only for a whi-!!" A spray of water suddenly hit Sarah's face, abruptly ending her sad story. Shocked, the storyteller and her listeners turned to look at Miles and Cornelia that had started their water fight again after Cornelia got an insulting comment about her swimming ability.

They didn't seem to notice the wet scientist as they continued playing with the water, splashing and laughing happily in the river. David couldn't help the smile that crept across his face. If he hadn't known better, he would have said that they did it on purpose to remove the tense air he realized had engulfed them. "Let's not tell them about this. It would be better that they just kept fooling around like this than worrying."

Sarah and Emilia gave a silent nod, but the smile on their faces told him that they were no longer worrying about the situation. David leaned forward a bit as he wondered to himself: was it possible that this girl had the ability to cheer up people unconsciously? Well, it had to be something along those lines; children seemed to have the positivity that many adults have lost.

David silently thanked Cornelia for stopping the sad atmosphere and changing it to a more funny and happy feeling.

XxX

"That was fun!" Cornelia exclaimed as she walked together with Miles through the jungle once again. They had finished their bath, and Miles had thought her the basics of how to swim, although she wasn't all that good. Now they were on their way back to the camping site as she and Miles kept the conversation going.

After having walked for a couple of minutes they finally reached the lair. Everything was as it had been before they had left and everyone kept on doing their work as the group entered the area. A couple of the workers greeted a "welcome back" as they walked past. Sarah and her friend left them to go get changed. The red-haired woman had gotten wet at some point in Cornelia and Miles's water fight, but they hadn't noticed until David had told them.

Rodney and David had left to do some work and Miles was dragged back to the doctor's tent by an easily agitated Charles. Who could blame him; his patient had almost managed to reopen his wound by moving around too much. The only people left out in the open were now Emilia and Cornelia, both staring after Miles with amused smiles.

"Mommy, what are we going to do now?" Cornelia asked after waving goodbye to her best friend and turning to look at the blonde woman beside her. Emilia looked down at her for a second before scanning her surroundings. "Ah, Cornelia, could you just stay here for a minute? It seems like John needs to speak with me…" And true enough, a brown haired man stood waving for the mother to come over to him a couple of meters away.

Cornelia made no move to stop her mother as she started making her way to the man. She didn't really like to wait, but she would try to be patient just this once. Three minutes later, Emilia returned to her daughter with a grateful smile, "Thank you for waiting." Cornelia nodded in return, a little proud of herself for not being a bother to her mother.

"Let's go get some food, I'm sure-"the woman started, but was soon interrupted with a panicked cry. "Mrs. Campbell! There's trouble!" A man came running towards them, panting and sweating as he came to a stop in front of the confused duo. Cornelia finally recognized him as one of the guards that was keeping watch the night she had sneaked out to meet up with Catcher.

"What's wrong?" Emilia asked, clearly worried. She knew that this guard was usually calm and didn't lose his nerve easily, which could only mean that the situation was bad. "There is a group of people headed our way while I was patrolling, and I managed to identify the guy that was leading them." The man explained as he tried to calm his nerves. "His name is Carl Cartridge. He's kind of famous around these parts for selling rare plants and animals on the black marked. He's a dangerous man, Mrs. Campbell."

"H-how long is it till he gets here?" Emilia asked as a sweat drop traveled down the side of her face. She had heard of this man and was told to stay out of his way. People who opposed him sometimes went missing and some even turned up dead later on. The guard stood hesitant in front of her, "...He's already here."

The woman gave a shocked expression and was about to say something in return, but she never got the chance as a voice suddenly roared through the lair. "HEY! WHERE IS THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF THIS LITTLE SUMMER LAIR?!" Cornelia cringed at the loudness before she turned to look at her mother, wondering what she would do. "Cornelia, stay here!" she firmly ordered the child before she stormed off with the guard trailing behind her.

The girl stood still as she watched her mother round a corner of a tent and disappeared from view. Some of the people in the area came out of the different tents, and they moved in the same direction as Emilia had gone only seconds before. All off a sudden Cornelia was knocked forward as someone walked right into her shoulder. She hit the ground with an "oww!", but quickly lifted herself up again to look up at the guy who had pushed her.

"Don't just stand there and block people's way! Go and hide away in a tent where you won't be a bother." Why wasn't this at all surprising, the girl wondered as she stared irritated up at Henry. "You should learn to look where you walk." Cornelia countered as she rose up to her feet and brushed off some dirt off her t-shirt. The red haired male simply grunted before he walked hurriedly past her. Her mouth formed a thin line as she was trying to stop herself from shouting out something she would regret later.

Instead, she ran after him, determinate to annoy him as revenge for crashing into her without apologizing. Cornelia had now forgotten that she was supposed to stay put. Rounding the corner of the tent after the redhead, she was surprised to see that Henry had stopped up. Unable to slow down in time, Cornelia ran right into the man's legs, causing both of them to stumble into each other. The whole thing came as a shock to Henry since he hadn't noticed that she had been following him, and it hadn't helped that he stood with his back to her.

They were both about to fall to the ground, but managed to prevent it by supporting their bodyweight onto each other. Taking a moment to collect themselves, they slowly separated and stared at each other. "_What_ do you think you're doing?" Henry asked in an angry voice, and it was obvious that he was trying with all his might not to yell at her.

Cornelia simply gave a small smile in return: her revenge was complete. Surprisingly enough, Henry turned his gaze away from the girl and in the direction he had been headed. The blonde girl turned to see what could have been distracted him away from bullying her. Blue eyes found her mother arguing with another man. Rodney stood beside her with crossed arms and a stern look on his face. The man he was staring at seemed to be angry about something, and as Cornelia took a closer look she saw that he had a group of men with him.

Most of the men had a very dark skin color, though some were white, but there was one thing they all had in common: their faces showed no emotions what-so-ever. The man that seemed to be the leader of the group was at average height, but his bodyweight gave him a bigger look. His form was a bit round and short, reddish hair stuck out from under a safari hat, there was also a big beard that matched his hair color placed under his nose. He also wore a common safari outfit: shirt, shorts and boots in a beige color scheme.

"I thought I told you to go hide in a tent." Henry's voice ended her analyze of the new arrivals, causing her to look back up on the man, and now that she could look closer the girl thought he actually looked a tad worried. Cornelia then realized that Henry actually _had_ told her to hide, in his own grumpy manner of course.

"What are they doing?" the seven-year-old asked as she turned her eyes back to watching her mother and the round man argue. Henry gave a sour look to her for avoiding his hint for her to leave, but he gave in and told her. "That man over there is implying that we would need his approval to stay here, and he now wants us to hand over everything we have collected so far." Cornelia's eyes widened a bit as she remembered the red flower she had taken an instant liking to. She didn't want to give it away!

"He's lying, of course. We have permission to be here and take what we need to, that's why we are trying to hide the fact that we have actually found a new species from that guy. He would try to take it by force if he came to know about it." Cornelia let out a sigh of relief. Crossing his arms over his chest, Henry stared displeased as the argument went on before them. He jumped slightly as Carl all of a sudden let out a loud, mockingly "Hah!"

"You can't be serious!" the large man laughed as he crossed his arms over his chest in an overconfident manner. "You actually believe that you people could survive out here? You've got only three men with guns to defend yourself and there are even women among your crew!" Emilia stood straight facing the man before her with a serious expression. She was normally a calm and loving woman, but this man was starting to make her mad.

"We have survived perfectly fine till now, Mr. Cartridge, and for your information, women can work just as hard as you men do. I would appreciate it if you didn't underestimate my co-workers", she told him with a stern tone to her voice. Her word was answered with a stubborn "Hmph!" The bearded man turned his head slightly to the side as he watched the people that had lined up around them to watch the conversation. Many of the men and women wore displeased expressions and some seemed worried about what was going to happen if this argument ended badly.

Carl had just turned his head back to say another rude comment, but he stopped himself as he got a puzzled expression on his face. Turning his whole body this time to check if his eyesight had betrayed him, but it turned out that wasn't the case. "You even brought a _child_ with you?!" Emilia's eyes widened a bit as she snapped her head to follow where Cornelia stood there with folded hands in front of her and stared back at the man.

The whole place went instantly silent as no one dared to speak. This lasted for a few seconds before a new voice broke the tension, "Is there a problem with that?" Every last pair of eyes landed on Rodney where he stood beside Emilia. He had kept quiet for the entire conversation, but it finally seemed like it was his turn to speak up.

"A problem!? Of course it is! You people don't take this place seriously, do you? I come here with my life on the line to find rare things…" '_Yeah, with an entire platoon armed to the teeth as your bodyguards'_ Henry bitterly added in his mind as he cast a glance at the people behind the fat man. They all had guns, rifles and other kinds of weapons on them.

"We are not here to hunt dangerous animals, we're here to find plants that can be used in medicine. Who we bring with us to do this is none of your concern, I- no, we all would appreciate it if you would now leave us alone and stop interfering with our jobs", Rodney stated with a tone that didn't allow any arguing in the matter. There were also a couple of nods from the watchers, signalizing that they agreed with the statement.

A sweat drop rolled down Carl's cheek: he wasn't used to be defied like this and he didn't want to simply leave like that. "Ah, is that so?" he questioned with a wicked grin on his face as he started walking towards the crowd with confident steps. "But, before I go I would like to know what kinds of plants you have actually gathered." His feet came to a stop a few feet ahead of Cornelia as she stared hesitant up at the big man. "And since you are apparently part of the crew… I would like you to tell me what you have found."

Emilia stood shocked for a moment before her instincts kicked in and she was about to hurry over to her daughters side, but a thin black hand grabbed her shoulder before she could do so. She turned to look at one of Cartridge's men. "You don't interrupt. Mr. Cartridge asked a question and he will be answered", the man told her with an accent that indicated that English wasn't his mother tongue.

Cornelia didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, not entirely sure what to tell him. Her eyebrows fell slightly as she got a more confident expression, "Green ones, mostly leaves and roots." The girl stated. She would never tell him about the flower, since he was _definitely_ a bad guy. Carl got a slightly displeased look, before he tried again. "Have you found some plants that you have never seen or heard of before?"

Cornelia lifted a finger and put it against her chin as she pretended to come up with something. She soon shook her head. "No, I've seen it all before in the books my mom carries around." By now, the blonde girl was desperately not to break out into a fit of laughter at the constant weird faces the man before her was putting on.

"Oh?" The humor Cornelia had, instantly disappeared as the red head before her got impatient and the air tensed a bit. "Are you sure about that?" The man took a threatening step towards her as she took a step back. She was starting to get frightened and wanted to turn and run away from him as he was about take another step. Suddenly a person stepped out in front of her, blocking the round man from reaching her. Wide blue eyes stared surprised up on the last person she had expected to defend her; Henry.

"I don't really like that tone of yours. She already told you that she didn't know anything, so back off", he ordered the man in the same angry voice he often used when talking to Cornelia. Carl hesitated for a moment before he remembered his armed bodyguards. "I'm not done asking questions yet, and besides, this is not any of your business."

"That's where you are wrong", a new voice interrupted as Miles suddenly appeared beside Henry, without his crutches, something that would indicate he had sneaked out without the doctor knowing. "If you mess with this little lady, you mess with all of us." He winked down at the now smiling seven-year-old. This time it was Miles who took a threatening step forward, making Carl back up slightly. It was only Rodney that took notice of the paint that went across his eyes for a split second before it disappeared. The old man shook his head slightly to himself; Miles should have been in bed, his leg was bad enough after the hiking trip earlier.

Taking a step toward the round man, Rodney told him once again, "There you have it: there is nothing here for you. Now, leave us and don't return."

Carl shifted his gaze between the three men that dared to defy him, about to protest. His voice was cut off once more with a new voice. "You heard him… leave now." A dark haired man stepped out from the crowd, earning him a smile from Miles, "Yo David, where have you been?" David smiled back as he held up a walkie-talkie in front of him, "I've been chatting with the local police force, and I was wondering if I should tell them that we are being terrorized by an armed group that would even go so far as to threaten a child."

The redheaded man with the safari hat had begun to sweat, and it wasn't because of the heat. He emitted a low grumble before he forcefully gave in. "Fine! We'll leave, but don't say I didn't warn you!" he angrily shouted before turning and stomped back to his troop. Emilia quickly ran over to her daughter as soon as her shoulder had been released. She fell down on her knees before her and folded her arms around her daughter. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah, Miles and Rodney protected me!" This statement earned her a rude grunt from the redhead that turned so that he could avoid looking at the young girl who sent him a grateful smile. "I didn't tell him anything, so we get to keep the flower, right?" she turned and asked her mother who simply smiled and nodded in confirmation. No one seemed to notice as Carl stopped in his steps for a moment before he went on and ordered his troop that they would get going, a plan starting to form in his head.

XxX

Letting out a series of clicking noises, Catcher watched as the leader of the new human group pulled out of the lair. He sat crouched down with one knee on the thick branch beneath him. His throwing disk was present in his hand with the blades drawn. Little did Henry know that he had probably just saved the black-markets dealer from being cut in two.

A low growl escaped the hunter as he flicked the disk two timed to get the blades to fold back into its original position. He had watched the entire incident that had somehow ended peacefully. Catcher had planned to wait till the group of violent humans had left and gotten some distance away from the others before he started his hunt. Despite this thought, he had automatically activated his bladed disc once the leader had neared Cornelia; if he hadn't been stopped when trying to approach her a second time the predator would have thrown the weapon.

The small human female had gotten away unhurt for now, and he wanted it to stay that way. The alien hated to admit it, but he had actually taking a liking to the sweet little girl. The members of his tribe would by all means start making fun of him if they ever learned of this, luckily, they would never know.

Putting the metal disc back at its place by the belt, and turned his whole body and tensed his muscles as he prepared to leap from the tree. He turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Cornelia; she was smiling happily at her parent.

The predator turned his head back, watching the group of humans that was moving away from him and then he leaped from the branch. The hunt would soon begin.

XxX

Cornelia lay in bed clutching her bunny to her chest as she looked at her mother who was kneeling down at her bedside. Kissing her daughters forehead lightly she told her good night before she left for the exit. "I'll be back soon; I just have to go to a meeting with the rest of my colleagues**. **Sweet dreams, sweetie", the blonde woman told her before disappearing out the opening into the darkened jungle.

Cornelia continued to lie still as she listened to the footsteps of her mother walk away. Once she couldn't hear her any longer, the girl threw the blanked off of her to reveal the usual blue pajamas complete with the matching hat placed on her head. She had been waiting till evening before she would go out into the jungle to meet up with Catcher again, and now that her mother was busy, she could sneak out without alerting anyone.

Jumping down from the bed, she bent down to pick up her backpack before putting it in her bed and placing the blanket over it, adjusting it slightly so that it looked like herself sleeping, just in case someone came back before her. Satisfied with the cover-up, Cornelia proceeded to jog over the dirt covered ground with light steps to the opening. Peeking outside to check if the coast was clear, she noticed that there were two guards stationed in the lair tonight, probably because of the happening earlier that same day.

It took some extra time to sneak around and out of the lair without letting the guards see her; the whole thing had actually been pretty exciting and fun, kind of like playing hide-and-seek. Reaching the green vegetation, the girl speed up and started skipping with a happy expression on her face. It was always fun to spend time with Catcher, even though he didn't speak much, and most of this speaking had been growls, roars and some kind of funny clicking noise, but that was also a part of his charm.

Reaching the small opening where she had stayed the night before, she continued to jog forward until she reached the center. Cornelia continued to smile gleefully as she waited for her friend once more. "Catcher!" the girl called out into the jungle, clinging to her pink plushy, trying to be patient. Minutes went by as she was starting to pout impatiently: why didn't he show himself?!

The child looked disappointed towards the ground; she had looked so much forward to tell him about her day… All of a sudden she could hear the rustling of leaves behind her, and Cornelia's head shot up again, twisting her body around with a cheerful smile. Even thought she was a bit mad at him for keeping her waiting for him all the time, she couldn't hide the fact that she was happy he had turned up at all. Her eyes focused ahead of her…

The smile disappeared the next moment as her eyes registered what she saw, and that was _not_ Catcher. Before her stood a tall man with a dark black skin color, holding a gun with both hands as he took a step towards her. Feeling panic starting to grab a hold of her body, Cornelia quickly turned to run away from this man she had recognized as one of the men that had come to their camp a few hours ago, together with that big fat man.

She didn't even get to take one step before she stopped up. There was another man ahead with a similar look to the one behind her. Before being able to come up with any plan to what she would do next, the man behind her had moved in close enough to grab her, something he did. "No!" the scared girl shrieked as his arm wrapped itself around her waist to keep her from running away. "Let me go!!!" she continued as she desperately struggled to make him let go. This situation didn't last for long as the man used his free hand to take out a white tissue which he quickly put in front of Cornelia's mouth and nose.

Tearful eyes blinked drowsily as her body stared to feel limp and all of a sudden she felt incredibly sleepy. The struggling slowly stopped and heavy eyelids started to close as her head fell slightly, the motion making her face the ground where her pink bunny lay, staring back up at her, like it was desperately trying to tell her to stay awake. But she was just too tired to obey the silent request her plushy had sent her.

Eyelids finally closed as her world was surrounded by darkness, only a final quiet whisper escaped her lips before she fell into unconsciousness. "Catcher…"

**To be continued…**

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_ZOMG! :o A Cliffhanger!! Fear my epic writing skilllllllz!_


	9. Captured

_Hia! =D_

_Here is Chapter 9 as promised! Thanks to everyone who as commented on my story and also the ones who have added it to their story alert, I really appresiate it! Also, I would like it if you guys tell me what part of the story you liked the best and maybe give me futere ideas I can use in this story. Believe me, I havn't the whole script done yet, so any ideas you guys could give me would be awesome!_

_Peace out!_

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**Chapter 9:** **Captured**

Tired eyelids slowly opened, eyesight slightly blurry as blue eyes tried to get used to the surroundings. It was a bit dark and only a small light cast from a lantern made it possible to see. The first thing Cornelia noticed as her senses returned to her was that she was lying on a dirt covered ground. Her hands had been tied together in front of her with a small rope that hung tightly around her wrists.

She blinked a few times to get used to the light cast down at her from above, the lantern burning brightly. Cornelia tried moving her hands slightly, and found that the numbness had faded and then decided to sit up. It wasn't until she sat up that the girl took more notice of her surroundings. Old wooden walls stood tall around her in a small room, a bunch of boxes in wood stood stocked in a corner as well as a table and a chair a bit further away. There was a door in the other end of the room as well as some kind of window that was actually a plank that hung in front of the opening with a small stick holding it open. The darkness outside told her that it was night time. All in all it looked like an old abandoned cottage.

Cornelia turned to explore more of her surroundings, which was when she noticed that she was actually not alone in the room. Sitting in a corner sat a light skinned man with a bandana tied around his head, and over his crossed legs rested a rifle. His hair kind of resembled Miles', but the thought soon left her as he lifted his head to look at her. Cold, blue eyes stared back at her, making a chill run down her spine.

His left hand took a hold of his rifle as he lifted it and placed the thick end of the weapon to the ground as he used it to support his weight as he stood up to a full height of 6'1 feet. Cornelia stared wide-eyed up at the man. She now remembered what had happened before she had fallen unconscious, and she quickly realized that if these people were working for the bearded man, then she was in trouble.

Fear was starting to kick in, but the young girl refused to look scared in front of the bad guys. Instead she put up an angry scowl at the man that was staring down at her. "Untie me!" the seven-year-old demanded as she lifted both her arms to show him the rope. There was a long pause as the man continued to stare down at her, and she was starting to wonder if he would actually do as she said.

He proved her wrong as the man strode right past her and out the door, but he didn't seem to have walked too far, as he came back less than a minute later. Cornelia drew her arms closer to her chest and put on a brave face as the door opened once more and a familiar face of Carl Cartridge appeared together with the man from before and a dark skinned man she recognized as one of the men that had captured her.

She pulled away from the trio as they came inside and closed the door behind them. Carl was wearing a fake smile as he took a step ahead of his followers. All eyes stared down at the small child before them. An uncertain expression filled Cornelia's face as the fear factor was taking over, and Carl's creepy smile sure didn't make it any better.

"Well, well… we meet again, don't we, little miss?" Carl greeted, slightly tilting his head as he studied the girl before him. Cornelia kept her mouth in a thin line as she stared back up at the round man, refusing to reply. The man took another step, causing the girl to try to back up even more, but found it impossible as she suddenly had the wall against her back.

"Don't be frightened, I promise not to hurt you… as long as you answer my questions, that is", Carl added as he crouched down only two feet away from her. Cornelia twitched slightly at his tone; she knew he would go through with her if she didn't do as he said.

The man took off his safari hat, before sending the girl another forced smile. It wasn't before now that the girl noticed all the rings that were present on his fingers; they were all in gold with different colored stones fastened on them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they must have been extremely expensive.

"What was it that your group found out in the jungle?" Cornelia stared up at him with her mouth slightly opened, "D-different kinds of plants…" Cartridge gave a displeased scowl and his voice clearly marked his impatience as he spoke next. "I already know that, but you found something special, didn't you? Let's say… a flower?" The girl noticeably stiffened in front of him but quickly collected herself. "No, just some roots and leaves!"

All of a sudden Carl grabbed her hands and dragged her up to face him, all patience lost as he gritted his teeth in anger, trying not to lose his temper any more. "DON'T! -lie to me little girl. I heard you tell your other so-called 'friends' about this flower, and let me get this clear: if you try to lie to my face once more I will not hesitate to hurt you!" Cornelia looked wide eyed at him, desperately trying to fight the tears that were building up in her eyes.

This was unfair! She didn't want to give the rare flower to this man, and now she was threatened to give it up for her own safety. Neither was an option she wanted to pick… a third option started to form in her head as she steadily collected herself and got some of her confidence back. "That wouldn't be such a good idea…" Cornelia's voice spoke up inside the small room.

There was a long silence after the words had been said. None of the three men had predicted this small comment. In all honesty, they had expected her to start weeping and spill out everything she knew. Clearly they had mistaken. The blonde and the black man behind the redhead sent each other a glance, silently telling each other that they had expected the same scenario. Carl was the one who spoke next, his curiosity getting the best of him, "And why is that?"

Sitting up a bit straighter and looking up with a straight face expression she told him the answer with a hint of pride in her voice. "Because if you did, Catcher would get mad at you." There was another short pause before Carl let out an amused laugh, "Hah, Who is that? One of your friends that defended you back at your camp? Unfortunately for you, they don't know where you are, and even if they did, I really doubt that they could do anything about it."

"Catcher didn't show himself at the camp", Cornelia pointed out before she continued in her correction. "And Catcher is really good at finding people. He found my mom when I had gotten lost, and he has some cool weapons too! I bet he could cut all your guns into pieces!" the girl explained with a lot of enthusiasm, almost forgetting where she was in the first place. "I don't think he likes adults since he always turns invisible around them, but he likes me, so he would get mad if-"

Cornelia's explanation took an abrupt stop as something suddenly hit her left cheek with a force strong enough to knock her over. She hit the ground with a surprised yelp. It took her a few seconds to realize what had just happened. Cornelia turned her head slightly to look up through a few hair straws that had fallen in front of her face. Carl's face had turned into a bright shade of red, giving his angry expression more impact. His right hand still hung in the air with the open palm that he had used to hit her.

The big man panted heavily trying to calm his nerves; finally he stood up and turned around to stare at his men who hadn't even twitched after witnessing the abuse. "You!" Cartridge shouted as he pointed an accusing finger towards the dark skinned man, "You watch her while I'm gone, and Smith!-" he then called, turning to the other blonde man that stood slightly to his left. "-You are coming with me", the fired up redhead ordered as he stormed past him and out the door. The blonde followed after, closing the door behind him.

Cornelia lay motionless on the floor for about a minute. Her left cheek stung and now she was beginning to feel something tickling down the same side. The young girl slowly lifted her bound hands to feel the cheek. Her closed eyes shut once her hands made contact, as the stinging increased slightly. After returning her hands back to the ground in front of her face, she opened her eyes again and noticed that there was some blood on the part of her hand that had touched her hurt cheek. Carl must have cut it with one of his rings.

Tears escaped her eyes as Cornelia stared at the red substance on her hands. She didn't know why, but she had never liked the sight of blood. It was probably because it meant that someone was hurt. Turning her whole body around to face the wall, she also turned her back on the other man in the room that had been told to watch her. Sniffing slightly, Cornelia closed her now sore eyes to block out her bloody hand.

Silently Cornelia lay there, hoping Catcher would come and rescue her soon.

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Tiredly, Cornelia opened her eyes as she heard a door open and close. She didn't know how or when she had fallen asleep on the dirty floor: it was probably due to exhaustion. Turning her body over to face the door, she found no one. The room was empty. It took the child a couple of seconds to figure out that it was probably her appointed guard that had walked out the door a minute ago. She didn't know why, but she really hoped it wasn't to go get Cartridge.

Her cheek still throbbed from before, but the bleeding had stopped. Casting a glance around her surroundings, her eyes landed on the slightly opened window. Staring at it for a few seconds before casting another look across the room, Cornelia's eyes landed on a pile of boxes in the corner. A wicked grin slowly spread across the girl's face as an escape plan came to mind. She would teach these bad guys not to underestimate the infamous escape artist Cornelia Campbell.

It hadn't been pure luck that she had managed to sneak past the guards the nights that she had went to see Catcher. Back home she was known for her ability to move about without being detected, to be cunning and sneaky if she only wanted to be. Standing up on her own two feet for the first time since she got taken, Cornelia tiptoed over to the boxes in the corner. She didn't know if there was anyone nearby, therefore she had to be extra quiet in case somebody was within hearing range.

Because of her tied hands, Cornelia had trouble lifting the box. After about two minutes Cornelia gave up the lifting idea and instead started shoving it across the ground with her feet. Placing the container one inch from the wall below the window, Cornelia gave a satisfied nod to herself. She had wanted Catcher to come save her, but why create too much trouble for him? Besides, she always found it kind of weird why the princesses in the fairy tales her mother read to her, never tried to escape on their own, instead of waiting for some prince or knight to come save them.

The seven-year-old froze for a split second as the thought crossed her mind. Catcher wore some kind of armor… did that maybe mean that he was a knight? Blushing slightly at the image of the almost eight foot tall humanoid coming to her rescue, Cornelia got a slight understanding to why the princesses waited to be rescued. It would have been kind of cool.

Shaking her head at the idea, Cornelia turned back to her own escape plan with a grin. She bet Catcher could be more impressed with her if she could get out on her own, rather than to do nothing. Maybe he would praise her? Simply the thought of that happening made Cornelia blush again; that could possibly be as cool as being rescued by him.

Getting her focus back on to the present, the blonde girl stepped up on the wooden box, steadying herself against the wall. Reaching up to look out the small opening, she scanned the outside to find a possible escape route.

The area was a little familiar to her mother's camping site. A few tents were set up in a small opening with thick jungle vegetation all around. A noticeably difference were the patrolling guards. There was four that she could see, all carrying weapons and on guard. Cornelia's expression tightened a bit; it would be a bit hard to get by them unnoticed, but luckily not impossible. There would only be one chance to get past them.

The girl took a deep breath before she analyzed the situation like she always did when she wanted to get past someone. Her tied hands rested on the edge of the opening, and once one of the guards turned to another direction, Cornelia acted. She put pressure on to her hands as she lifted her body weight on to the window frame, placing one of her bare feet against the wall as she used for support before pushing herself up. Once she was high enough, Cornelia threw one of her feet over the edge, followed by the other. Lowering herself to the ground outside, small feet touched the cool earth and her hands let go of the window frame.

Quickly moving out of the open and around the back of the cabin she had been in, she pressed her tiny body tightly onto the wall. Sidestepping to each corner, Cornelia looked around the edge to check if everything was as it should be. The guards continued their patrolling to Cornelia's relief. Returning to watch her surroundings, she spotted the best route to the jungle.

Waiting until the coast was clear, Cornelia quickly ran over to the cover of one of the tents. Carefully to not touch the fabric, in case there was someone inside, she moved past it while keeping an eye on the people walking about. One of the guards slowly started to turn to Cornelia's direction, making the girls heart skip a beat before she threw herself down to the ground in the cover of a small set of plants.

Peeking worriedly through the openings in the vegetation in front of herself, she let out a sigh of relief as the guard showed no indication that he had seen her. Once he turned again, Cornelia was back on her feet and sprinted the last few feet into the green leaves of the jungle, covering herself from being seen. She took a few heavy breaths to calm her beating heart before turning to look back at the enemy camp once more. Her heart almost stopped as she saw who had just left one of the tents.

Carl Cartridge was walking across the land with the blonde Smith behind him, heading for the cottage she had been in only minutes before. The man who had been set to watch her stood right outside the door and was trying to put out his cigarette as he stomped on it twice, before greeting the pair.

Cornelia wasted no more time observing as she quickly turned on her heel and darted away from the lair as fast as she could while trying not to step on something sharp with her bare feet. Once they opened the door and found it empty they would start searching for her, meaning that the girl needed to put as much distance between them as she could and find a good hiding place. After all, they were adults and ran faster than her.

It hadn't been more than a minute before she could hear the distant shout of an outraged Carl. Speeding up a bit, Cornelia hurriedly avoided a sharp rock she was about to step on. It was difficult to focus on so many things. First she had to watch where she was headed, then she had to watch out for sharp objects on the ground and _then _she had to search for a place to hide.

In all the distractions, Cornelia missed to notice the wine whip that lay on the ground ahead of her. Two seconds later, the small girl suddenly stumbled facedown into the ground. "Ouch!" Cornelia exclaimed as she pushed her face off the floor. Maybe God had this plan to let Catcher rescue her after all, the blonde wondered, until she turned her dirt covered face and stared right into a small opening under one of the roots of an old tree. It was just the right size for her to squeeze in and a great hiding place.

Crawling closer to the tree before turning her body to have her feet face the opening, she pushed herself in while muttering something to herself along the lines of "Thank you, God…"

It was a tight space, but big enough to create a distance to the opening if she pushed herself up against the opposite wall of earth. With her back against the wall and her feet tucked close to her body, Cornelia faced the opening, waiting for any sounds and movements. It didn't take too long before she heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps. She held her breath as the sound came closer and closer and… went right past her.

Letting out the breath she was holding and relaxing her body, Cornelia smiled to herself. "Wait!" a dark male voice suddenly called, making the hiding girl tense up again. She stayed completely still as she listened to the steps that was heading back towards her location. Keeping absolutely quiet, Cornelia waited as the two footsteps stopped outside her hiding place.

Now she was confused. This was the perfect place to hide; even she hadn't noticed it until she had practically stumbled right next to it, so how had they? The answer came sooner than she had expected, "Isn't this the hat that the kid was wearing?"

Automatically, Cornelia reached her hands up to the top of her head and came in contact with her now messy hair. Realization dawned upon her as she figured that her hat must have fell off without her noticing when she tripped earlier. All thoughts in the girl's head disappeared as a shadow fell on the ground in front of the opening. Two sets of boots could also be seen as they turned in her direction. "Hey, check that hole, perhaps she's in there", one of the voices spoke, making Cornelia forget how to breathe as the words registered in her brain.

"You do it. I don't want to crawl in dirt", a new voice with a bad accent replied to the first voice. "Hmph, Whatever…" One set of boots took a step closer before the man kneeled and bent over to check the opening.

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Cold blue eyes scanned the inside for a second before a sadistic grin spread across the blonde's features. "Well, well, look who we have here." Smith straightened back up as he turned to the black man behind him. Lifting up his right hand that held a gun, the blonde gestured for his partner to take it, "Hold this for a moment while I drag the kid out."

After his gun had been released from the man's hand, he turned back to the opening in the ground and realized that he wouldn't fit through. Still, he lay down flat on his stomach with his face in the opening, gazing in at the scared kid who stared back at him with watery eyes. "Now, stop being such a trouble maker and come here!" Smith threatened, but his request only made the child back up even more.

Reaching out his hand, the man tried to reach in and grab the girl, but was one inch too short. He reached a bit more, but took a few seconds break as he heard his gun drop to the floor behind him. "Hey! Don't mess with my firearm! Pick it up and don't drop it again!" Smith shouted back as he turned his head slightly to the side. He gave an agitated sigh before he turned back to the task he had at hand.

Reaching forward once more, he almost managed to grab a hold of her leg, but missed. Stretching his arm a bit more, he let out a victorious; "Hah!" as his hand closed around Cornelia's leg. The girl let out a frightened cry before she started struggling to make him let go of her, but she didn't manage to get a hit. Grinning once more, Smith started dragging the fighting girl closer to the opening.

What the blonde wasn't paying much attention to was that as the girl came closer to him, her kicks also came closer to his face. That's why he was so surprised that his grip loosened when he suddenly got a foot forced into his face. The blonde recoiled and gripped his nose with his hand. Blood was dripping from it, and it hurt like hell. Anger boiled in his eyes as he looked back up on the girl who was now back in the corner.

"You're going to regret doing that, kid…" he deadly whispered before moving his free hand back out the opening. "Give me my gun! I'm going to shoot both her legs so that she won't be able to run off anymore!" Smith roared back to his partner, but was met with silence and no action to do as he had requested. Turning his head to the side with an expression that couldn't be described as nothing else but pissed off, he angrily shouted "HEY! Do as I say, you damn idiot!"

He was met with silence once more, but all of a sudden the blonde could feel a strong hand close around his ankle with a firm grip. "What the he-!" Without warning the man was jerked back with a strong force and away from the opening.

Cornelia continued to stare at the place where the scary man had been only moments earlier. She could hear him shout and curse from outside, but the sound became more distant as it seemed like he was dragged away from her current position.

Suddenly, a horrifying scream filled the jungle around her, and then... absolute silence.

**To be continued…**

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_Muahah! Another cliffhanger, just to screw with my dear readers~ ^-^_

_... meh, this chapter turned out more dramatic than i had pictured ,_


	10. The path

_Hello! =D _

_Thanks for all the feedback. This chapter was uploaded faster than the others for two reasons, one is that its shorter, because of the fact that the next chapter will be rated T for blood and violence and the mood would have been to unstable... Thats right! I'm going on a killing spree! :)_

_ Oh! and the other reason is because you guys hated that I kept giving you the cliffhanger ending ;P Hope this makes you feel better._

_Enjoy!_

**Chapter 10: The path**

It was quiet, except the distant noises from jungle animals and a waterfall crashing down far away, and no other sounds were heard.

Cornelia still continued to lay motionless under the tree she was hiding under. A few minutes had passed as nothing else had happened. No one had come back to get her, and she was starting to wonder if the men and whatever it was that had dragged the blonde away wasn't coming back. Ever so slowly, the girl made her first move, pushing her back lightly away from the wall behind her and stared in wonder out the small opening ahead of her.

Her breathing had finally calmed down and she soon lifted her tied hands to wipe away some tears that had gathered there earlier. She then leaned a bit forward before her hands made contact with the ground to support her bodyweight. Cornelia tilted a little bit forward, due to her balance being a bit off thanks to the rope around her wrists.

As she neared the opening, she searched the dark jungle for any movement, but found none. Confident in that she was now alone, Cornelia crawled out of her hiding place and rose up once the wooden ceiling was no longer above her and she was out in the warm night air. Looking around her, she found a gun on the floor along with a drag mark to her left. The girl followed it with her eyes as long as she could, but the trail was soon covered with the thick vegetation.

Cornelia turned her eyes away from the trail before her curiosity could take over and lead her to follow the path, not a favorable thought since she didn't know if the bad guys would be at the end of it or not. Blue eyes landed on the gun on the ground. She stared at it for a moment before she walked over and picked it up, before returning to the hole beneath the tree and threw it in. Her father had told her about how dangerous the weapon was and how it was often used to hurt people, something Cornelia was greatly disapproved of.

Satisfied with her good work of disposing of the gun, Cornelia gave herself a confident nod. She would have crossed her arms too, but that proved impossible thanks to the rope holding them together. Now that all of the distractions were gone, the girl wondered what to do. Returning to her own camp would be difficult; one reason was that she had no idea where she was, another was that the jungle was dangerous no matter if it was day or night.

A sad pout appeared on Cornelia's face as she searched the jungle once more. There was one thing that was starting to trouble the young girl by now: why hadn't Catcher come to get her yet? Not only that, but he hadn't showed up when she was abducted in the first place. Panic started to enter her mind as a possible answer came over her. What if he had left? What if her previous fears had become reality and he had actually left this time?

Watery eyes looked down on the floor; even though it was only possibility, simply the thought that her new friend may be gone, left her horribly sad. If he would leave, he could at least have told her so and said goodbye. Shaking her head to get the idea out of her mind, Cornelia looked up once more; she had to stop treating her ideas like they were reality.

"Catcher…" Cornelia said out softly, keeping her eyes on the place where the trail ended, half expecting him to walk right through it. Who knew? Maybe it had been Catcher who had saved her by taking away the two men. The girl waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing appeared before her as she had hoped it would.

Disappointed and tired, Cornelia turned around to check the other direction, just to find two thick legs covered in a silver armor no more than two feet in front of her.

Wide -eyed and with the mouth slightly open, Cornelia craned her neck back slowly, eyes trailing up at the masculine body covered in armor and fish netting, stopping at his mask and dreadlocks she knew so well. The humanoid stared back down at her, clicking lightly, as she seemed to have frozen. The familiar sound snapped her out of the trance and a big smile broke out on the girl's face, "Catcher!" she cheered, shooting her hands up into the air to demonstrate how happy she was. Seriously though, he really had to stop sneaking up on her like that whenever she thought he wouldn't show up.

The hunter studied the small human for a moment, before kneeling down with one foot as the other served to rest his arm on. He then reached out his left hand and took a hold of Cornelia's hands which had been lowered a bit from before. The child noticed that he seemed to stare down at the rope in an annoyed manner, before he then brought forward his other hand and activated his wrist blades, making them longer as he brought them close to Cornelia's arms, holding them in place as he cut through the rope.

Catcher then swiftly withdrew his blades to its original position as he released the small hands. Cornelia threw her thick glance down at her free hands before she looked back up at Catcher with a big smile, thinking about what the first thing she wanted to do with free movement. She took the last step that separated them, and threw her hands around Catchers lower torso before the predator could make any move to stop her.

Cornelia could feel his body jerk slightly at the contact, but it didn't bother her much, neither did the tension she could sense coming from him. He probably wasn't used to being hugged. Catcher's arms were lifted a bit away from her, like he was afraid of touching her. Who could blame him? He had been taken completely off guard by the sudden move, and now he was unsure of what to do.

"I missed you…" she whispered into his abdomen, making him look down at the child. Cornelia soon looked up to meet his gaze with soft smile. The tension eased a bit before Catcher dared to move again, ever so slowly. He lowered his right arm and patted the girl lightly on the head as a reply to her comment. She gave him another smile, before his hand left her messy hair and she let go of him, even though she had wanted to stay that way for a bit more.

Cornelia took a step back to give her friend some space before she continued to stare back up at the mask hiding his face. Catcher stared back down at her, still a bit shaken up because of the contact. This sort of closeness was rarely displayed among his own race.

The hunter's train of thought was soon broken as he saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Quickly his right arm shot forward as he took a hold of Cornelia's chin to hold her head in place. The girl blinked confused as he turned her head to her right, displaying her left cheek. Catcher clicked softly, but the sound suddenly turned into and angry growl.

He quickly released her before standing up to his full height; once he towered over her he twisted around, making his dreadlocks follow his fast movement. He took a pair of agitated strides before turning back to face the puzzled girl. Catcher swiftly pointed a finger towards Cornelia, then down at the ground, every movement telling that he was far from happy, but the message had gotten across; he wanted her to stay here.

The child automatically nodded, unable to do anything else since she hadn't seen him this upset before. Satisfied with the reply, Catcher turned back to his original course and stomped forward through the bushes, but before he was completely out of sight, he activated his cloaking devise, making it impossible for Cornelia to follow.

Confused, Cornelia stared after him for a couple of seconds before she lifted her hand to her left cheek, feeling the cut she had completely forgotten about.

**To be continued...**

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_...I really hope that wasn't considered a cliffhanger X3_


	11. Hunt

_Okay, A small warning before you start reading this chapter :D_

**_This Chapter is rated T for violence and blood_**

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**Chapter 11: Hunt**

"This is unbelievable!" Carl Cartridge shouted in anger as he stared down at the man lying before him, lying on his side while clutching his stomach in pain. "You were set to guard a tiny kid, a girl even, and you manage to let her escape!" the round man raged as he took one step closer before swinging his leg and struck the man in his gut once more, making the man let out a strangled growl of pain.

Six other men was standing separately around their boss, watching the abuse without even blinking. They were used to Carl's mood swings and knew that if they did anything wrong, whoever did it would be punished. The redheaded man sent another kick before turning away with an angry scowl, searching among the men that were still with him.

Once he had found out that his prisoner were no longer in the cabin, he had sent out seven two-men teams to locate the girl and bring her back. So far, he hadn't gotten any news over his walkie-talkie from any of the groups. Carl was well known for always getting what he wanted, and this case would be no exception. However, he was beginning to get impatient, something that made him even crankier than usual.

He rumbled silently to himself before he hurriedly unbuckled the communication device form his belt and held it up to his mouth. "This is Cartridge, Team one; status report!" he called into the microphone, before releasing the button he had pressed to transfer the message, and then he waited, watching the device in his hand while listening for a response. Nothing came.

"Team one! Smith! You better answer this call if you don't have a death wish!" the man shouted angrily, demanding response. He waited for a few more seconds, but no response came, only the faint fusing sounded from the walkie-talkie, signalizing that it was turned on. "What the hell does that guy think that he's doing?" Carl growled, barely managing his temperament.

Turning the switch on the side to change frequency, Cartridge lifted the device once more. "Team two, report!" The men around the angry redhead waited in silence, but no reply came. Dark eyes turned to look around to their group members, all silently agreeing that something wasn't right. All the teams were carrying a walkie-talkie with them and should be on. Even so, no one was answering the calls.

"Team three! Do you read me?" Cartridge tried once more, switching the frequency each time after waiting for a few seconds. "Team four! Are you there!" Still, no response. "Team five!" He continued trying, getting more angry and confused by every passing moment. Why wasn't anyone replying when the walky-talkies should all be working?

"Team six! What the hell are you doing?" The round man was about to switch frequency again, but a small static caught his attention. He paused for a moment while waiting for something else. When nothing came he tried once more. "Team six! This is Cartridge! What is happening? Have you found the girl?" the redhead questioned.

Surprisingly, there came a small static before a voice broke through, but everyone listening in could hear that something was wrong. A male voice panted hastily as well as the sound of running. It took a while before a gasping voice finally spoke into the microphone, "_This is team six! Need backup! I am alone!_"

Cartridge frowned while the other men exchanged looks of confusion. "Why the hell are you alone? Where is your partner? And what in the world is happening?" Carl asked with a puzzled look on his face as he waited for the answers. It took a couple of seconds before the microphone was lifted once more. "_My partner is dead, Killed_!" The man on the other side of the line took a few heavy breaths before continuing. "_There is something out here! I don't know what it is, but it's after us! I need help! Somebody- __**ARGH**__!_" His pleading for help suddenly ended in a pained cry and something hitting the floor.

Unconsciously, Carl squeezed the walkie-talkie harder as he called into the device once more, "Hey! What happened? Team six! Answer!" No further reply came, only the frequent static and the sounds of night animals in the background. All eyes rested on the devise, confused and lightly shocked. "What is this?" Carl whispered to himself before one of his guards spoke up behind him. "What kind of animal would be able to take down all our men? They were all armed." The black man voiced what everyone there was wondering.

"How would I know- wait! Be quiet!" the boss started, but stopped and turned up the volume of the device he was still holding on to. The sound of footsteps could be heard as they seemed to walk closer towards the microphone on the walkie-talkie. Everyone listening in was as quiet as they could, waiting with their eyes glued to the device. The footsteps seemed to stop for a moment before another sound came through the speaker. Carl's eyes stared confused down as some kind of clicking sound could be heard.

All of a sudden the sound ended in a loud roar that surprised Carl so much that he jerked back and dropped the communicator to the floor, accidently turning the devise off.

No one spoke. Every person kept staring down at the device lying on the floor. "What in the world was that…?" Cartridge slowly questioned before looking over the rest of his men. He had been in this jungle many times before and knew of the many species that lived here, but he had never before heard any animal make such a sound before. The closest thing he could recognize it to, was the roar of a lion, king of the animal world, but it still sounded different.

Movement caught the man's attention and he looked up to one of his guards that had lifted a hand to point at the walkie-talkie. "One more: team seven," the dark skinned man said, reminding everyone there that there was still a team they hadn't contacted. Carl quickly bent down and picked it up and turned it on. "Team seven! This is Cartridge! Are you there?" the man questioned before stretching his hand to get the devise as far away from him as possible, just in case he would be met with another angry roar. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case.

"_This is team seven. No signs of the girl yet, but we heard a strange roar a minute ago. Over." A_ male Australian accent broke through. The walkie-talkie was once again close to Cartridge's face as he spoke once again, glad that he was actually answered properly for once. "Listen up, team seven! All the others have been killed, you are the only survivors! Whatever it was that made that noise killed them. Regroup here at camp and keep your microphone on; I want to be able to hear it if anything happens."

There was a slight pause before a reply came. "_Roger that. We'll head back now, but that roar wasn't too far away from our position. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid running into whatever it was. Over._"

Carl gave a tired sigh before looking down at the device in his hand. Now he was beginning to wonder what action he should take once his men were back. If they ever got back at all…

* * *

The tall, blonde Australian, Sean, put his Walkie-talkie back in his belt, but made sure the microphone was still on, as requested by his boss. He signalized to his partner to be on guard and get ready his weapon before they began walking at a fast tempo through the dark jungle. Sean held two hand guns, while the dark skinned man striding a few feet ahead of him held a riffle steadily in both his hands.

Two sets of eyes constantly searched the surroundings for any kind of movement that could belong to whatever it was that had killed their colleagues. A couple of minutes passed as the duo made their way through the vegetation. Nothing had happened so far, and Sean was starting to think that they would actually make it to the camp without incident. However, luck had rarely been on his side.

The Australian halted at the sound of a riffle hitting the floor behind him. Twisting his whole body around, Sean had his arms out straight; guns aimed at whatever it was that would appear before him. He had stepped up front of his partner only two minutes ago, something that had probably saved his life. The riffle lay alone on the jungle floor, and his partner was gone.

"Damn it…" Sean cursed before he turned and checked every direction for the missing man, or whatever it was that had taken him. "Cartridge! The black guy on my team disappeared and he dropped his weapon." he called out, remembering the walkie-talkie strapped to his waist. No reply came, but Sean didn't see how anything his boss said could help him either way. His heart beat hard against his chest and sweat covered his forehead as he waited for whatever it was that was watching him.

"Come out and fight me, you coward! Show yourself!" the Australian snapped, eyes darting from side to side. He waited for a few seconds, but no reply came. Then he sensed it. It was just a feeling, but in these kinds of situations, you've got to trust your gut-feeling. Twisting hundred-and-eighty degrees, he pointed his guns forward and stood still until he saw some sort of vibration in the air only a couple of feet in front of him. Wasting no more time, Sean pulled the triggers on both his weapons and fired.

Once the shoot was heard, he continued to fire, not taking any chances if he'd happen to miss his target. Eyes focused, he stared at the vibration that actually moved away from the line of fire, dodging the first bullets. Sean quickly followed the path, firing all the bullets in his guns. With only one bullet left in each gun, Sean aimed a bit ahead of the invisible target and fired. Right after came the sound of an angry roar.

Time stopped. Sean stood completely still, smoking guns aimed ahead of him, eyes set on the jungle up front. The earlier disturbance in the air was nowhere to be seen, but hopefully he had managed to take out whatever it was. He shifted slightly, waiting for any kind of sign that the thing that he had seen was still alive. Moments passed as nothing happened, the blonde slowly relaxed his stance, but still had didn't lower his defense.

He strapped the gun at his left hand back in its holster before reaching over to his belt and released the walkie-talkie, eyes still up and searching. Steadily, the Australian man lifted the device up to his mouth and whispered into the microphone, "This is team seven… err, I mean; this is Sean. I think I managed to hit the thing. Awaiting further orders… Over." He waited for a few seconds before there was a slight static and Cartridge's voice came through.

"_Good! What kind of animal was it? Either way, I want you to find the corpse. I'll probably haul in a fortune if it's a new species._" Sean grimaced lightly: the boss had just lost over half his men and he was still thinking about money, that greedy bastard. The blonde let out a sigh. Then again, he guessed he wasn't really any better; after all, he was still taking orders from the big man.

"Roger that. Over." Sean turned off his microphone and ended the conversation before taking a cautious step forward, followed by the other one. Now that the adrenalin was starting to wear off, his mind started to question what it was that had actually happened, because it just didn't make any sense. He had only seen blurry air, yet it had moved and even emitted a mighty roar when it was hit. The animal closest to turn invisible Sean knew of was the chameleon, and the thing he saw, was definitely not the same thing.

When the man finally reached the place he had seen the creature, he found no body, but something interesting none the less. He kneeled down with a puzzled look across his features. He stretched out his free hand and stroked it across a leaf before taking it back and turned it to get a closer look. His hand was now covered in this bright green liquid that light up in the dark. Sean stared down at his hand in wonder, no clue about what it could be.

Eyes lifted from his hand and looked to the ground surrounding the man. There was some more of this weird substance scattered around a small half-circle, only two feet to the Australian's left. His eyes darted around the area for a quick sweep, but there was nothing else there, no corpse or any trace of there being one.

Sean was starting to feel uneasy. Something didn't seem right. Suddenly there came a silent growl from behind the kneeling man. Eyes widened in shock before Sean's reflexes kicked in and he quickly stood up and twisted around to face his attacker. Once he spotted the disorientated air only four feet ahead of him, he lifted his arm, pointed the gun ahead and pressed the trigger… only to be met with a light 'click' from the weapon.

The man's pupils shrunk in horror as realization dawned; he had no more bullets left. No more thoughts had time to enter his mind before the sound of metal being drawn as the blurry image took the last step before the human. Then there was the sound of flesh being pierced. It took a second before Sean sunk his head slightly to look down. He hung one foot above the ground with two invisible blades going through his abdomen. Blood was seeping through the wounds, but even though the man had been mortally wounded, he didn't feel a thing. Only the slight cold tingle in the area around his stomach gave a sign that he had indeed been stabbed.

Small electronic pulses ran around the invisible field for a moment before the disorientation started to blink on and off a few times before the blade and arm Sean was staring down on became visible. The silver metal was full of edges and pointy, with red blood running down both the sharp weapons that impaled him. The hand looked strong, and Sean's hazy mind couldn't tell if he had ever seen anything like it earlier in his life.

A small rumble drew his attention away from his wound. The human's eyes were beginning to cloud over, but he still had some life left in him. If he was going to die anyway, he wanted to see his attacker's face. Struggling slightly to lift his head, Sean slowly managed to crane his neck back, though his whole body was shaking from the strain.

Eyes landed on a silver mask with some kind of tube-like dreadlocks sticking out of its head. The edges of the man's vision were now black and the darkness was starting to creep closer. Strangely enough, Sean managed to put on a last humored smile as his eyes clouded over and the creature before him became to blurry to take in. 'Heh, seems like I was actually killed by a monster…'

Then his vision blacked out as a last breath left Sean's lips.

* * *

The jungle was quiet once more. No gun firing, no men running through the tropical forest, no more screams of pain and anguish, only the silent breathing from the successful hunter.

Catcher knelt down beside his latest prey as eyes traveled over the still human body. Till now, this male had been the most difficult to take down. There had been one other who had managed to notice the predator before he had struck, but that situation had ended much quicker. The humanoid turned his head to look down on his right side where bright green blood was covering the area around a bullet wound. It stung, but such a small wound proposed no big threat to the hunter at the moment. He had taken much greater damage prior to this hunt and came back with only a few scars, most of them not visible from under his armor.

Masked eyes traveled back to the human that was now laying face down. He was tempted to claim his trophy right now, but his anger still hadn't subsided despite all the kills he had made. There was only one human that would satisfy the bloodlust he had been feeling for the last thirty minutes, and to reach the leader, he would have to take out all his pawns. Though in all honesty, he could probably take down the man without killing the other humans, but that option wouldn't quite satisfy the hunter.

Reaching up to his get his medical kit from the armor strapped to his back, Catcher quickly retrieved it and pressed the opening mechanism before placing it on the ground in front of him. Afterwards, he reached up to the side of his mask where two small tubes were connected to the armory. Fingers closed around the first tube before he pulled it out which caused it to make a hissing noise as the air pressure was released. The second cable soon followed before the predators two scaled hands reached up and grabbed the sides of the mask and gradually removed it from his face.

Once the head gear had been taken off, the alien placed the metal down at the ground to his right as he stretched his upper mandibles after having them restricted for some time. Yellow eyes were framed with the darkened skin surrounding them, making the orbs more noticeable. Catcher blinked once to adjust his vision before eventually looking down at the small box on the ground.

Pressing down the top once, it pushed back up and opened to reveal a couple of instruments that would be most unfamiliar to any human that wound see them. Wasting no more time, Catcher quickly reached inside the kit and pulled out something similar to a pincer and a small tube filled with a shining blue liquid. Yellow eyed stared at the blue substance for a few seconds before the hunter's face grimaced in annoyance.

This was going to hurt.

* * *

"Sean! Do you read me? Have you found anything yet?" Cartridge impatiently called into the microphone of his walkie-talkie as he glared to his side at the man that he had been set to guard the child earlier. He was now standing while clutching his aching stomach and glancing weary over at his boss.

Carl really wanted to simply shoot the guy for simply existing. He could probably just do it now and get it over with. The gun strapped to his belt felt very tempting at the moment, but Cartridge knew better; he had already lost half his men without yet knowing who or what had done it. He blinked as the silence from the communication device didn't transmit any answer for him.

"Sean, if you don't answer this call within five seconds, I'm going to presume that you are dead." The man stared down at it as the seconds ticked by and nothing happened. Furious, Carl threw the device hard to the ground where the compact cracked it open, successfully destroying any further transmissions from it in the future. "Well, this is just great! I'm now down to only seven men and among them is one who can't even do as he is ordered to!" he raged, pointing an accusing glare towards the black man.

Carl reached up a hand to stroke across his beard, something he usually did when he was stressed. He cast a glance over the men that were still alive; they had started to tense up and occasionally looking towards the dark jungle surrounding them. The situation was not under his control any longer, something the redhead absolutely _hated_. He didn't even know what to do next. Trying to get back to civilization was the most tempting option, but they would probably get killed. There was only one other option that could possibly lead him out of this alive, even if it was an action that the man didn't really want to do.

Cartridge reached down and removed his gun from the belt, drawing all the attention over to him. The man looked back up with the weapon now in hand. The seven men stood somewhat in an unorganized circle around him, proving cover from most angles. Raising the hand that held his gun, as if to make a statement, Carl looked out to his men. "Listen up! From this moment on, this is a battlefield. We will take down whatever it is that took down our men, ready your weapons… I want this thing dead! I refuse to let it take down any more of you."

All of a sudden something shot right past Cartridge's head from behind and flew straight into the man standing before him. The man let out a surprised yelp before falling absolutely silent. All eyes was stuck to the man that was now being held from dropping dead to the ground by some sort of spear that had pierced chest with one end stuck in the ground, blood running down the metal.

It only took one second before all men stood with their firearms raised, all of them desperately searching for the person that had thrown it. "What the hell!" Cartridge called out in shock before quickly turning in circles, trying to get a glimpse of whatever it was that was now attacking them. "GAH!" a male voice suddenly called out as Carl turned to see what the man had shouted for, only to find him trapped inside a net that had started to tighten around him, causing the rope to eventually dig into his skin, drawing blood. Cartridge only had the time to put on a horrified expression for a second before two new pained screams filled the air.

The round man only managed to spot a small object flying through the air before it disappeared in the dark, and two of his men that fell to the ground with a deep cut that almost cut one of them in two, something that had actually happened with the other guy. Blood and inner organs laid on the ground as a last scream came from the man trapped in the net before a sickening cracking sound was heard, and he fell silent.

Cartridge was already covered in sweat as adrenalin went through his veins from the panic. But he didn't have time to do anything about it as a new death scream was heard to his left, making him turn around to the same direction with shaking hands, pointing the gun to the newest corpse that lay dead on the floor with two big stabbing wounds through his chest. Eyes searching everywhere, but Carl could see nothing. How many men had he left? Three? No, only two men were left standing.

"Where are you!" one of his men suddenly called out and rapidly fired his gun in all directions, hoping to get a lucky shot out of desperation. The shots soon came to an end as the ammunition in the gun was used up. The man quickly replaced it before looking back up to fire it once more, only to come face-to-face with a camouflaged hunter. It only took a second before the man had lifted his gun to shoot, but even that was too slow as the two wrist blades pierced through his heart.

Carl turned to see his man being thrown away like trash by some kind of disorientation in the air that took the form of a tall humanoid. Stiffening, the man could see from the edge of his vision that the last man standing beside himself turned out to be the man he had kicked in the guts a short time ago. He stood as still as Cartridge with eyes glued to the creature before them that seemed to turn towards them.

Both sides stood still for a few seconds, regarding each other before the predator made the first move as he lifted up his left arm with his computer on it. Pressing a few buttons, Catcher looked back up to the men as his the invisible field lifted from his body, feeling quite pleased at their reactions. They both stiffened in horror as their mouth fell open. But it didn't take too long before the dark skinned man decided that he didn't want to be there any longer, throwing his gun down to the ground, turned to his right and ran off at a speed that would probably have beaten most professional athletes.

Catcher turned his head to watch the escaping human, wondering if he should kill him or simply let him go. It didn't take long before the decision was made and his throwing disc flew through the air once more, cutting off the man's head, before the weapon returned to its owner and put back in its holster in the belt.

Turning back to the only survivor and final prey, Catcher stared at the armed man before taking a few steps towards him. "NO! Stay away from me, you monster!" Carl screamed in horror as he squeezed the trigger and fired all his shots in one go. However, because of his shaking hands, most of the bullets missed, and the rest that actually managed to hit the hunter only peeled off his armor without leaving any marks. His marksmanship was definitely nothing compared to the other human that had managed to wound him, even with his camouflage on.

This particular human irked Catcher to an unbelievable extent. He had threatened Cornelia once in his presence, and the predator was pretty certain that it had been him that had made the wound on her face too. Not only that, but even though he was supposed to be the leader for the group, he was far from the strongest or smartest. The human couldn't even shoot properly!

Taking fast agitated steps towards the human, Catcher reached the human who was starting to back away, but didn't get the chance as the hunter reached out his left hand and grabbed Cartridge by the neck and lifted him up off the ground. His feet kicked furiously under him, trying desperately to get footing, but to no use.

"P-please… don't k-kill me…" Carl managed to get out of his mouth from where he was hanging, only making the hunter's rage increase. Regardless of that, Catcher suddenly released his grip on the human and let him fall to the floor. Once he had landed on his back and looked back up at the masked alien, Catcher activated his wrist blades, extending them to their full length, making the human's eyes go wide in terror.

"NO! Please spare me!" Cartridge begged, but his words were ignored as Catchers blades seared through the air and cut off the man's right arm. A pained scream filled the jungle the next moment, filling the hinter with joy and excitement; killing this human would be fun.

Carl continued his screaming as he clutched his open wound that was bleeding openly. Once movement caught his attention again, he looked up at his attacker as he raised his blades once again. "Oh God NO!" the man shouted before he had to emit another scream of pain as all connections with his left leg was removed. A blood pool was starting to form around the man as his cries filled the jungle.

Catcher tilted his head slightly as a pleased purring sound came from under his mask. He took one step closer to the human, drawing its attention once more. Once its watery eyes was on him again, Catcher clenched his right fist tightly as he drew back his hand, and drove his wrist blades right through his lungs. The human cried out once again as oxygen started to escape him. The hunter then drew back his blades to its original position as he studied the suffering human that lay before him. Blood loss and lack of oxygen was going to give him a couple of minutes filled with great pain before he died. A fitting death for this insolent human.

Gracefully, Catcher turned from the dying human and took a few strides away from him before stopping and looking back at him, struggling to breathe as blood filled his lungs. The hunter smiled under the mask before he turned back to his original route and walked right through the dead bodies lying all around on the ground. He halted once he came to the first human to be killed, his spear still holding him from falling. Catcher gripped the handle in the middle before pushing a button to make the spear fold in on itself, then roughly removing it from the corpse, causing it to fall to the ground.

Casting a last glance around the now empty human lair, Catcher fastened his spear back where it belonged before turning his back to it all as he made his way back to the jungle in a good mood after a successful hunt.

* * *

Cornelia sat with her back against a tall tree, waving her small feet in front of her while looking up at the starry sky in-between the thick foliage of leaves above her.

She had been sitting there for over an hour now, but her patient hadn't thinned much. Sure, she wanted Catcher to come back sooner than later, but she was sure he would be back. After all he had proved to her that he would return to her, like he had done all the times she had started to doubt him. This time, she had decided to trust him and wait like he had wanted.

Her blue hat rested on her lap as she sat humming on the melody she had sung for Catcher in the past. "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are…" the girl whispered into the night air before continuing to hum.

Cornelia twitched slightly as a soft growl suddenly came from her right side. She quickly looked up to see Catcher standing a few feet away from her. It was kind of weird how someone that big managed to sneak around unnoticed, but she thought nothing more of it before she grabbed her hat and jumped up to stand on her feet. Once up, she ran over to her friend's side and stared up at him as he stared back down at her.

She kept a smile on her face, waiting for him to make the first move, which he did after a couple of minutes had passed. He slowly knelt down before lifting a hand to pat her head lightly, something that made Cornelia's smile grew so big that she had to close her eyes for it to fit on her face. She opened them the moment his hand left her hand. Catcher preceded with pointing a finger to her then himself before nodding his head to his left, making her look that way, but her glance was met with only jungle.

The girl blinked twice before her face brightened as she understood what he meant. She nodded excitedly at him, confirming that the message had gotten across. The hunter rose up to his own feet before turning to the direction he had pointed out and started to walk. After a few steps, he looked over his shoulder to see Cornelia skipping right beside him with a happy expression on her face. Catcher turned back to watch the jungle ahead of him as he pushed through a couple of big leaves with the seven-year-old trailing right after.

Together, they left the clearing, Cornelia completely ignorant of the fact that twenty-one people had been hunted down and murdered by the creature walking right beside her.

**To be continued…**

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_Also! Check out the new drawing of Catcher, the link can be found in my profile :D _


	12. Stars

_Hi! Im so sorry that this chapter came out so late! When i first started writing this story I told myself not to abandon it for months and keep my readers waiting, but I kinda did it anyway... ops 3 _

_Anyway, Check out the drawings from WJ in my profile and if you want to, you guys can add me on msn to remind me to write, and give me some ideas :) hidi71 hotmail. com (without the space)_

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Chapter 12: Stars

"Catcher, don't walk so fast!" a light female voice called out in into the night. Some birds resting on a branch spread their wings and took off because of the disturbance, afraid that it might be a danger. Their instinct had been half right. The person causing the noise was of no threat to them; on the other hand, her almost-eight-feet-tall friend armed with all sorts of different weapons was a completely different matter.

The hunter stopped in his stride through the jungle and turned to look behind him as Cornelia crossed the five feet that had separated them for a few minutes now. She took some deep breaths as she looked up at her friend, grateful for the fact that he had waited for her. The girl had managed to keep up with his pace around 30 minutes now, but she basically had to jog to prevent getting left behind. His legs were just way too long for her to keep up.

"Could you slow down a bit?" Cornelia questioned, taking advantage of the small break to rest a little. Catcher stared back down at her for a moment before lifting his gaze back up to search the area, turning his head slowly from side to side, his dreadlocks following swiftly by every movement. He then looked back to the girl and then gave a slight nod, earning him a satisfied smile from the small human. "Thank you."

The Predator tilted his head slightly to the side before turning back to face their original traveling path, and resumed walking, but at a slower pace this time. Cornelia was trailing behind, her eyes mostly set on the ground in front of her to not trip on anything, but she occasionally peeked up at the team leader ahead of her. The girl took notice of how easily he managed to slip through the leaves and plants that kept showing up around them, while she herself kept brushing up against them all the time. After seeing him doing it a couple of times, Cornelia decided to try it too.

Looking up from the ground and rather trying to keep track of the hindrances ahead, she kept walking forward, changing position from time to time as plants kept popping up. It was actually really fun, Cornelia found out as she smiled excitedly. She also glanced up at Catchers to copy his movements from time to time. It was so much fun, that Cornelia forgot to check the ground ahead of her. Something she was painfully reminded of as a sharp sting went through her right foot. "Ouch!"

Catcher halted in his footsteps at the small cry behind him. Quickly, he twirled around to see Cornelia sitting on the ground, holding her foot with both her hands. She had a troubled expression on her face with small hints of tears in the corner of her eyes. It only took two confident steps before the hunter had reached the child and knelt down in front of her. She took two uncontrolled breaths before she managed to look up at the masked hunter with a pained look. "I stepped on s-something…" Cornelia briefly explained while trying not to cry.

The hunter stared at the girl's face for a few seconds before his eyes fell to her foot that was being covered by her small hands. Reaching out his left arm, Catcher took a light hold of one of her hands, and then he removed it, as he got her permission to do so. Gaining a clearer view, the Predator turned his gaze to the wound. It wasn't as bad as he first had thought; there was a small rift that had begun to bleed, but nothing serious.

Looking back up from injury, Catcher meet Cornelia's concerned face that seemed to be waiting for some kind judgment of her injury. The predator laughed silently for himself; humans truly were weak. Such a small wound was nothing to fuss over, but he guess it couldn't be helped since Cornelia was only a child. The hunter looked at the little girl for a moment, before his eyes stopped at the small piece of cloth on her head. Once the idea entered his mind, Catcher moved his hand and took the blue night cap off, something that earned him a confused look from the girl.

Taking a hold of the cloth with both hands, the predator continued with tearing the piece in two. Cornelia continued to study her friend as he did this, focusing all her attention to him, causing her to almost forget about her injured foot. Catcher then turned back to her after the hat had now turned into a line of cloth. The humanoid then gestured for the girl to stretch out her foot, as he let out a low rumble.

Cornelia did as told; all the while she kept her eyes wide open to observe what he had planned to do. Swiftly, the hunter bent down and wrapped the cloth around the area of her foot where the injury was, followed with tying it firmly as the fabric came to an end. Satisfied with the temporarily bandage, Catcher stood back up and searched the area in case something had changed in his surroundings.

Cornelia moved her foot slightly to try it out, and she had to admit that it felt better now. Slowly, Cornelia pushed herself off the ground and proceeded her testing with taking a few steps, and despite a light throb, everything seemed fine. Smiling again, the girl looked up at Catcher, who now stood watching her. "Thank you, Catcher! It feels much better now", she told him, grateful for the help.

Catcher continued to watch her for a few more seconds, before he turned back to their original traveling route and took off once more, but started slowly, so that Cornelia wouldn't strain her foot more than necessary. The girl hurriedly started running to catch up to him, then continuing with a slow jog. Cornelia kept her eyes mostly on the ground this time, careful as to not make the same mistake twice. They continued in silence for a few minutes, giving Cornelia time to think about many different things, like what she should tell her mother. There was a chance that no one had discovered her disappearance yet, seeing that it was still night and everyone should be asleep.

It would only be a few more days before her mother and her co-workers would be done with their work here and would have to go back home to the US. And leaving the jungle would mean leaving Catcher behind as well. Cornelia frowned; the thought of leaving her new friend and maybe never see him again, made her a bit sad and mad at the same time. But there still was a chance that they could see each other again…

Looking up at Catcher's back, Cornelia opened her mouth to ask a question that had floated around in her mind for the past minutes: "Catcher, where do you live?"

The hunter stopped abruptly in his strides and swiftly turned around to look down at the child before him. Cornelia stopped as well, waiting for a reply, hoping that it would be closer to her home so that they could continue to see each other. Catcher continued to stare at the seven-year-old, gradually tilting his head to the right. Telling her was probably not such a good idea, but now that he thought about it, what did she actually believe he was anyway? She should have been able to figure out that he wasn't human by now. Other humans he had come across on earlier hunts had called him a 'monster', which the hunter took as a compliment, seeing that the earthlings seemed to use that term with beings that they feared.

Giving in to the bright blue eyes that was practically beaming with anticipation, Catcher clicked repeatedly before lifting his hand and pointing up through an opening in the trees and up at the stars in the sky. Cornelia followed the line of sight and stared up at the twinkling stars high up above her. She got a confused look on her face as she looked back to the humanoid that was now studying her reaction. The girl thought about it for a few more seconds before her face brightened, and a big, excited smile appeared on her face.

"Could it be…? Catcher, are you an angel?" Cornelia exclaimed, surprised by the possibility that this could be true. The hunter stared dumbfounded at the small human; he had heard the term used before and knew what an angel was. What he couldn't figure out however, was how she could relate the most dangerous hunter in the universe to a creature with wings that lives in the skies and help humans. This girl was completely unbelievable.

It took a moment before Catcher managed to collect himself and shake his head as a no, his dreadlocks following the motion. Cornelia's smile fell from her face and instead went back to a thinking position. The predator waited for her next guess, hoping that it wouldn't be as crazy as the last one. "Do you come from the stars?" Cornelia tried once again, folding her arms in front of her chest. Catcher tilted his head slightly to the side; she had actually been really close to the answer this time, so he nodded his head, hoping that she wouldn't ask if he was one of the star-people or something in that direction.

"Then…" Cornelia continued her questioning, but had to struggle not to smile after getting the right answer. "Are you an Alien maybe? Like in the movies?" The hunter was surprised; she had actually managed to guess correctly. Nodding to confirm her suspicions, Catcher watched as her eyes widened, as well as a big grin. "Yay! I was right!" the human cheered while jumping with glee, until her brain confirmed what she had just found out and she stopped, staring at Catcher with big eyes. He stared back at her as seconds ticked by, now starting to wonder if it hadn't been such a good idea to tell her. After all, their species didn't know that there exists life on other planets yet.

Cornelia took a few steps closer to the hunter, but didn't take her eyes off him. Once she was close enough she pointed up to his head and spoke again with a curious tone. "Is that why you use that mask? So that other people can't tell?" Catcher stared down at her; the mask had multiple tasks in his hunts, but revealing his face to people was not one of them. Its main assignments were to give his eyes some extra visuals, translate the native language and make breathing easier. Not to mention its use to protect his head from injuries.

"Could you take it off so that I can see?" Cornelia's voice broke through his thoughts, and he shifted his focus back to her. First then, it occurred to him what she had asked. Lifting his hand, he questionably pointed to his mask, silently asking if that was what she meant. Cornelia nodded multiple times as a confirmation.

The duo stood in silence for a couple of minutes. Then, as Cornelia was about to add that he 'didn't need to if he didn't want to', Catcher reached up his hand to the side of his head, where he pulled out the two tubes that were connected to his mask, each of them giving off a hissing sound as they were removed.

The blonde stared wide eyed up at the alien in anticipation as his hands grabbed the sides of the mask and slowly lifted it. Once it was loose, he removed it and let his right hand hold it as it drifted down to his chest area where it stayed as Catcher looked back toward to small human to check on her reaction. He had shown his face to two humans before and their reaction had been that of horror and disgust, well, he had been hunting them and eventually killed them, so their reaction had been understandable.

Cornelia stood wide eyed and her mouth open as she stared at the Predator, unmoving. Catcher waited for the shock to pass, also not moving, fearing that that would lead her to panic and run off. As minutes ticked by, the hunter was growing anxious. For how long was she going to stand there? He turned slightly to his side, wondering what to do next. Movement then caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he looked back to Cornelia who had taken a step forward, still watching him with wide blue eyes.

A little surprised, Catcher watched as she took another step toward him, followed by another one. Now that he actually looked, he found out there was little fear in her eyes, only wonder and amazement seemed to show. Blinking shocked by her reaction, the hunter slowly knelt down as she was only a few feet away from him. Even then, she didn't halter, on the contrary, she seemed to speed up her process and soon stood right in front of the alien.

They both stared at each other for a moment before Cornelia slowly raised her hands upwards, Catcher still watching her, not bothering to make a move.

What Cornelia did next would have gone down into the history books about the Predator race, if they had existed. Never before in the past or in the future would a human be able to do what she was about to do. Her hands reached up, and then she did the unthinkable: she grabbed his lower mandibles.

Catchers' eyes widened in surprise before his reflexes took over and he jerked back, making the girl lose her grip. Due to the fact that he had been kneeling, the hunter lost his balance and fell back and landed on his behind with a startled expression. Cornelia also stared ahead with a shocked expression before she hurriedly hid her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry! I should have asked first! I didn't mean to scare you!" she apologized to the predator who continued to stare at her, but this time for another reason.

Not only was she not afraid of him, but this small human female had actually managed to bring an almost eight foot tall alien down to the ground. Something like this had been unheard of! Sure, some humans in history had managed to bring down some of his race, but they were strong grown males.

Cornelia stood wondering what to do, but then a familiar clicking sound was heard and she looked up at Catcher who seemed to shake lightly as he made this sound. The girl watched puzzled for a moment before she realized that he was actually laughing. This made the girl move quickly forward, before throwing herself down on her knees right in front of her friend, making him look up at her. "So, does this mean you're not mad at me?" she asked, bright eyes staring at the predator that managed to shake his head while still laughing.

The girl stared at the humored alien for a while before she started smiling and laughing together with him, enjoying the moment they shared together in the warm night.

* * *

After their small episode, Cornelia and Catcher were once again on the move. Catcher had put his mask back on, and Cornelia was skipping behind him, following his lead. "Do you want me to keep you a secret?" Cornelia asked from behind, but continued before the hunter had a chance to reply. "On TV they explain that the government are after aliens and wants to capture them to experiment on them. But I don't want that to happen to you Catcher, so I should probably keep you a secret."

Catcher looked back at her and nodded. Before, she would have been free to tell anyone about him since she was young and no one of the mature humans had believed her statement. But now there was proof form his hunt, the humans would find his hunting ground sooner or later, so it would have been better with no witnesses. Everything would be fine as long as she didn't tell anyone. It was also for her own good; the humans were known for being a violent race, and some would also go to extremes to get information, even if the informant was a little girl.

The hunter threw another glance back at Cornelia. The hunt was over, and he just needed to go back to pick up the trophies he had collected before he could return back to his home planet. This meant he had to leave her behind on earth while he went around the universe hunting. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt a bit lonely. She was a one-of-a-kind human, that was for sure. Not to mention weird, but still funny. He would miss her, but who knew? Maybe he'd have the chance to visit her on future hunts to earth.

He lifted his head to look toward the sky through the trees. Only the future would know…

**To be continued…**

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_There you have it! :) Next Chapter is going to be the last one in this story... but fear not! There wil be a sequel that will be sett to one year after... since I am pretty tired of all the teen girls that run around being all dramatic XD No offence._


	13. Promise

_There you have it! =) the last chapter of Wild Jungle! (or just WJ for short.) But fear not my dear readers! Because I have already come up with much new and awesome stuff I'm going to have in the sequel that will be posted as soon as I have the first chapter done. Whenever that may be._

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**Chapter 13: Promise**

The camp lay quiet at the break of dawn of the new day. Only two guards were awake at this hour, everyone else was resting in their beds. That is, except for a little girl who had been away from the lair since last night. The darkness of the jungle was starting to lift, just as a blonde head stuck up from where two sets of leaves were pushed to the side. Cornelia quickly turned her head to check both directions to see if the coast was clear.

Once satisfied, she jumped out of the bush and lightly jogged in the shadow of the equipment and tents that rose up above her, shielding her from being spotted by the guards. Once she reached her tent, the girl slipped inside the opening and tip-toed over to her own bed and crawled in under the blanket. Cornelia quickly lay back into a sleeping position, but few seconds later she opened her eyes again and hung her head over the side of the bed, looking under it. She blinked confused before she got out of the bed again and dragged out her backpack. She then proceeded with digging through it, throwing all of her stuff to the ground.

Once the bag was empty, Cornelia stared into the empty space with a puzzled look. Raising her head, she threw a quick look around the room. A few seconds passed as the girl looked with an empty glance across all the sleeping women, and then shifted her eyes back to her bed.

Where was her bunny?

The blonde sat in silence for a moment before her face lit up as her memory returned from the previous night. She had dropped it out in the jungle when she had gotten abducted. The memory sent a chill down her spine for a second, scared that the men would return again. A few seconds later she was smiling again, her fears gone. After all, Catcher was there to watch over her, this time she wouldn't doubt him anymore. Sure, he hadn't shown up at the moment that she had gotten kidnapped, but he must have had a good reason.

Cornelia climbed up into her bed again and lay down, covering herself with the blanket. She really wanted her bunny, but she wasn't going to get it without her faithful friend at her side. But that would have to wait till morning, after all, Catcher was probably tired from being up all night and needed some time to rest, something that the girl would gladly give him. Snuggling the blanket closer to her chest, she closed her heavy eyes and let out a tired yawn. Letting herself fall into dreamland, she smiled a soft smile as she whispered, "Good night, Catcher…"

* * *

Catcher walked briskly through the jungle, carrying a net in his left hand filled with human skulls which were still connected to the spine; his hunting trophies. He collected them right after having wiped out all the humans at the camp, but had left it in a safe place before returning to Cornelia. In any case, the hunter was well aware of the fact that many creatures reacted badly to having one of their own killed. Even though they weren't on the same team, they were still human. So he had decided to spare the child of this knowledge.

Pushing away a big leaf from his way, the Predator finally made it to his destination. He had marked the place on the map of his wrist guard, so that it would be easy to find it once the hunt was finished. He gently put the net down onto the ground beside him, and then marched over to a tall tree that was marked with a three clawed scratch mark. Turning slightly to the right, Catcher clicked to himself as he raised his arm and opened the wrist guard computer. He quickly punched in a code on the touch screen and looked back up to see some sort of electronic sparks ahead, before the cloaking devise started to fall off the object he had hidden and revealed itself.

The small pod the alien had used to come down on the planet was now visible. Catcher studied it for a second to check if something had changed since he left it there a few days ago. Content with what he was seeing, the hunter strode over to it and opened the door by punching in a code at a consol on the side of it. Once it opened Catcher marched back over to the net and picked it up, only to go put it into the pod.

He paused for a moment to take another look at all his new trophies. Before turning to a blinking red panel inside the pod, Catcher reached in and punched a few of the buttons. The machine comprehended the message and stopped blinking once its current owner was done. The hunter then quickly stepped away from the pod before the door closed and the light bending shield turned back on.

The hunter then walked over to a fallen tree and sat down with his back to it. He had sent out a message to the mother ship, requesting that they would come pick him up. Now, he only had to wait for them to arrive. It probably wouldn't be more than a few hours to wait, but it would be some boring hours, seeing as he had nothing to do. Turning his head to the side, he looked toward the direction of the human camp for a moment and then pushed himself off the ground.

He had nothing better to do anyway.

* * *

Cornelia woke to the constant sound of people talking out loud, and feet walking around outside the tent. A sleepy seven-year-old sat up in her bed with her hair standing out in all directions. She blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust her eyes before looking around the empty room. Yawning, the girl moved her feet off the bed side and jumped down. She was still tired and wanted to sleep some more, but that would prove impossible with all the noise.

The girl lifted her arm to wipe her tired eyes before glancing down at herself, realizing that her pajamas was covered with dirt and small scratches from the adventure last night. Cornelia's eyes widened a bit as she quickly turned to check if anyone was at the entrance, luckily, no one was to be seen. She sighed in relief before she hurried over to her backpack to get some new clothes.

If anyone saw her in her current state, they would easily figure out that she had been going outside without permission. And she had even promised not to go anywhere alone too! Cornelia soon pulled out a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans, together with some new socks to cover up the hat-bandage that catcher had fixed for her. She put them all on her bed, before proceeding with throwing off the dirty clothing, tucking them deep down into her backpack and covered it with some of her other stuff so that no one would see it if she had to open her backpack later.

She then hurried to put on the t-shirt, and then jumped up in the side of her bed to drag on her jeans and socks. Satisfied, the girl jumped back down and opened her backpack again to pull out her hair brush. Once her hair was (somewhat) back to its original state, she put the brush back and closed the bag. She then ran over to the exit to go find her mother, but she didn't get very far before she twisted around and ran back to get her shoes.

The cloth in front of the opening moved a little to the side as Cornelia peeked outside to check if she could see her mother, something that proved to be an impossible task because of all the people walking around outside. The blonde slipped outside, but only took a couple of steps while watching all her mother's co-workers. They all seemed to be busy with carrying around all kinds of bags and boxes, while some told others what to do.

It was strange, Cornelia thought, as she cocked her head slightly to the side, ignorant to the fact that she had started copying the movement Catcher always made when he seemed to question something. Jogging forward, dodging between the busy workers, the girl made her way over to the tent where her mother usually was in, the one with the red flower in it.

Dragging the cloth door slightly aside, she peeked inside and found her guess to be correct. Emilia stood together in the other end of the tent with two researchers, discussing something. Cornelia cast another look across the room, only to frown in confusion. The flower was no longer at its usual place, in fact, there seemed to be a lot of stuff missing which had been there the last time she had been there. The place seemed rather empty.

Once she had entered, Cornelia made her way over to her mother's side, who gave her a smile before ending her conversation and suggested that the two scientists could go help out the others. When the two members of the Campbell family were alone, Emilia turned to her daughter and kneeled down to be on the same eyelevel as the seven-year-old.

"Hi sweetie, did you sleep well? I tried to wake you earlier, but you seemed to be in some sort of coma", the blonde spoke with an amused tone and gave her daughter a good-morning hug, which Cornelia returned. "It was so noisy outside, so it woke me up", Cornelia stated with a somewhat annoyed tone. "Mommy, what is everyone doing so early in the morning?"

Emilia got a bit of a troubled expression and looked to the side for a moment, wondering what would be the best way to tell her. "Well… there has been some change in our schedule. Originally, we were going to stay here for a few more days, but our plans have changed, and we are packing our stuff together. Hopefully we will be able to leave in about two to three hours…" she explained and looked back at her daughter to check her reaction.

"No! I don't want to leave yet! We haven't even been here that long! Why can't we stay longer?" Cornelia shouted out suddenly in protest, as a worried expression filled her features. Her mother sighed heavily before explaining. "Cornelia, we really want to stay longer and keep researching, but it has gotten too dangerous for us to stay any longer." The blonde paused for a moment before continuing. "You remember the man that came here yesterday right? Well, he is a mean and greedy man that would gladly put us in danger to get what he wants. Therefore, I and Rodney, along with the others, have decided to leave this place before he chooses to come back."

"I know that he is mean, but…!" Cornelia had to stop herself before she could spurt out that Catcher would surely protect them. But she had promised not to tell others about him anymore, not many people believed in aliens to begin with. Searching her mind for some other kind of solution to the problem, she came up with nothing.

With a sad and defeated expression, she looked up at her mother. "But… what about finding all kinds of new plants, like you told me before we left home?" Emilia gave her daughter a sad look and hugged her. "Sorry Cornelia, maybe we can try again in a couple of years. Besides, I think Aaron is missing us very much, and would be happy to hear that we will return early. He came home from his trip to Paris yesterday, and could probably use our company. What do you say?"

Cornelia had tears in her eyes as she held on to her mother's jacked, refusing to cry again. "B-but, can't daddy wait a little longer? I want to stay here!" Emilia sighed again and slowly let go of the girl. "Sorry, Cornelia." The woman then gave a soft smile, "Why don't you and I go pack our bags now, and then we can take a last walk around outside, together with Miles? Would you like that?" Cornelia quickly lifted her arm to wipe away the tears in her eyes before nodding. "Uh-uh…"

Emilia smiled again and gave the girl a kiss on her forehead before she stood back up and took Cornelia's hand as they walked out together. All the way, Cornelia kept her eyes looking down at her feet as they moved ahead. She didn't want to leave; leaving here would also mean leaving Catcher. The idea was far from ideal, as he was her irreplaceable best friend. Not to mention the fact that she had only found out that he was an alien. She wanted to ask him so many things.

On what planet did he live? Hopefully it was Mars, that planet wasn't so far away. She also wanted him to tell about all the adventures he had been on. What creatures had he met? Did he have any other friends than her? Where would he go once she was gone?

Cornelia looked back up when she noticed they had stopped. In front of them stood Rodney, and cast a quick look down at the girl before he turned to the older woman. "Could I talk with you for a moment, Mrs. Campbell?" Emilia figured he wanted to discuss something serious, based on the fact that he had addressed her with her last name. The blonde looked down at her daughter and gave her a small smile. "Why don't you go visit Miles while Rodney and I talk for a bit? I'll come pick you up once we are done."

The girl nodded in affirmation, then let go of her mother's hand and headed over to the medical tent. Once she stood outside the opening, Cornelia stopped up as a disturbing thought hit her. Catcher didn't know that they were leaving! And they were leaving soon, meaning that if she didn't see him soon, she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him. The girl turned and checked if anyone was watching her. Luckily everyone was busy with the packing and wasn't paying attention.

She walked calmly over to the edge of the tent and rounded the corner where she would be out of view. Once there she turned towards the outer layer of the jungle and dashed through the leaves in her way. She kept running forward, keeping her eyes on the ground to watch her steps, but also looked up from time to time, so that she wouldn't suddenly run straight into a tree.

Dodging a few branches, Cornelia emerged into the familiar clearing. Slowing down, the blonde took a few steps forward as she turned her head to every direction, looking for any kind of movement or maybe some kind of disturbance in the air. She panted lightly from the running as her eyes traveled around the ground. Though she saw no indication of anyone else than her being there, there was something there she recognized.

Cornelia sprinted over to the middle of the clearing and kneeled down before picking up the pink rabbit she had lost the evening before. She smiled happily, glad that it had been returned to her. Dusting off a couple of leaves and some dirt, the girl lifted it up to check if it looked okay, then nodded satisfied.

Too busy with admiring her doll, Cornelia failed to notice the creature that was making its way over to her from behind. It continued to sneak closer to her without making a sound as it walked across the jungle floor. Stopping behind her, the being reached out and grabbed the back of her t-shirt, before it lifted the small girl up.

Cornelia yelped in surprise as she suddenly dangled three feet off the ground. Regardless of this, she still held on to her bunny. Fearing that this would be a replay of the night before, she was about to call for Catcher, but wasn't able to do so before the individual holding her, turned her around to face it. The seven-year-old gasped in surprise as her eyes landed on a silver mask with two covered eyes stared at her. "Catcher!" Cornelia exclaimed in surprise before stretching out both her arms as if to grab onto him or hug him, only to find that he was holding her just out of reach.

Still, she struggled to reach him, stretching her hands even more, with her tongue out on the side of her mouth as she seemed concentrated on making her arms longer. The hunter continued to watch her, making no move to help her achieve her new found goal.

Getting frustrated, Cornelia tried out a new technique. Drawing her hands back, she put her bunny in her right hand and threw it straight in Catcher's face. The toy bounced right off the armory and fell down on the ground, leaving a startled alien. The offended child crossed her hands across her chest as she scowled at her friend, "Pull me closer! I can't hug you when you are so far away!"

Catcher stared at her for a few more seconds, not really requiring a hug. So instead, he lowered his arm and put her back down on the ground. Too bad for him that Cornelia was more persistent than him, not giving up before she had hugged him. Once her feet were on a solid surface and he had removed his hand, Cornelia darted forward and threw her hands around his right leg, clinging onto it.

The hunter emitted an annoyed grunt for not thinking of that option. He started shaking his leg lightly to make her let go, but the motion only made her hold on tighter, if not, amuse her. Cornelia giggled as she smiled up at him. Catcher sighed in defeat as he bent slightly and patted her head, making her smile even wider. Happy with the hug and the response, the girl released his foot and went over to pick up her bunny again.

Once she turned again, she looked over her friend where he stood. She smiled at him for a moment, but it soon disappeared as she remembered why she had comeout there, making her look down at the ground. This made the hunter confused; why the sudden mood swings? Had he done something wrong?

Suddenly, Cornelia looked back up with a look that clearly told how displeased she was. "Mommy and Rodney say that we are going to go home today and that we are going to leave soon", she started to explain. "But I don't want to leave! I want to stay here with you a bit longer. It's fun to play with you and you are my new best friend!"Her eyes were beginning to water as she continued her rambling. While listening, Catcher kneeled down in front of her. "You are probably going to get lonely if I leave, right? You won't have anyone to play with in this whole jungle!" Cornelia shouted as she raised her hands up for dramatic effect.

She was about to continue her complaining until the hunter shook his head in disagreement, making the girl confused. "Huh? You _have_ someone else to play with?" Again, she got a negative. "You mean… you won't miss me?" she tried again, her eyes tearing up at the possibility. Catcher kept his cool, not letting the upset girl cause him to panic the slightest, and shook his head again.

Cornelia got a puzzled look upon her as she tried to figure out what he had meant. The predator then lifted his hand slightly, drawing Cornelia's attention to him. Once her eyes were focused on his hand, he continued the movement. First he reached up and pointed to himself, then up toward the sky. It only took a couple of seconds with a confused human before she figured out. "_You_ are going home, as well!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Once she got a nod, Cornelia lowered her hand and stared at him with big eyes. "But you are going to come back, right?" she asked uncertainly. Catcher only gazed at her without giving her a reply. Sure, he would return to earth again, but that wouldn't guarantee that they would be able to meet. "Catcher!" Cornelia suddenly snapped and took some quick steps closer to him, standing only an inch away as she glared up him. "You have to promise to come back and visit me!" she demanded with an expression between determination and sadness.

The hunter cocked his head slightly to the side at the sudden outburst, clicking behind his mask. "Promise me!" Cornelia shouted again, no longer having any patience to wait for an answer. Catcher laughed at her for her headstrong personality, before he turned slightly to the side and opened up one of the smaller pockets that were on his belt. The blonde watched quietly, as the action triggered her curiosity.

He soon pulled something out, but closed his hand around it before Cornelia could see what it was. She continued to stare at the hand, somehow hoping that she would suddenly gain x-ray vision. She lifted her gaze to check on her tall friend, only to find him facing her again. He nodded slightly before lifting his hand to hold it in front of her as he opened his fist.

Cornelia's blue eyes widened as her eyes landed on a small green rock that had the same shape as a leaf, tied to some kind of black thread at one end. She couldn't help but notice how bright it was, not to mention pretty. The amazed girl continued to admire the stone for a while before a low rumble drew her attention back to Catcher. She looked up at him as he grabbed the thread and lifted the stone up, letting it hang in the air in front of the little girl.

Catcher had to growl slightly to draw Cornelia's attention back to him again. He then lifted his free hand and pointed at the stone, letting out a low clicking sound. Then he pointed towards Cornelia, who was staring wide -eyed at him, getting the point a lot faster this time. "You are giving it to me!" the girl shouted with a mix of disbelief and happiness. The smile disappeared again and turned into a confused frown as Catcher shock his head.

He then pointed to himself and towards the sky, next he directed his outstretched finger toward the ground they were standing on. Continuing, he pointed to Cornelia again and the stone, and lastly to himself.

Letting his hand rest on his knee, he waited for the child to collect the information and figure out the meaning. The girl stood confused for a moment, then she started to repeat the motions she had seen him do. "Umm, I get the stone… then you go home, but come back and then I give it back to you?" Cornelia tried out. Once she got the approving nod, she smiled and jumped slightly, "Yay! I got it right!"

When her brain had finished taking in what she had just said, she turned and stared wide eyed at the masked hunter. "That means that you HAVE to return! Or else you won't get your necklace back!" Catcher nodded once again, causing Cornelia to jump with joy. She stopped and stood still as the Predator took the black rope in both hands, lead them past Cornelia's neck and tied them together. He retrieved his hands and studied Cornelia as she grabbed the new accessory and lifted it to watch the stone.

Startled, Cornelia turned with wide eyes to Cather. "It's warm!" she exclaimed in surprise. Catcher nodded; the stone was something he had picked up on one of his hunts. It was a rare artifact that produced heat, something that made it stand out in the infrared vision his mask provided. Though the hunter did want to keep it himself, it was now a guarantee that the two of them would meet again in the future.

"Oh no!" Cornelia suddenly shouted out in a light panic, she turned to him and waved her hands through the air. "Mommy thinks I'm with Miles! What am I going to do if she gets there before I do?" Catcher watched her panic for a few seconds, before he stood back up to full height and grabbed Cornelia, holding the startled girl around the waist at the side before he took a few quickly steps and snatched up her bunny that had fallen on the ground again and started to run.

* * *

Miles lay lazily in his bed, reading an army magazine in peace. Well, as much peace as he could get from the constant noise from the people that were packing. He had just flipped to page twenty-one when he heard the sound of running and panting as Cornelia suddenly appeared at the door and continued over towards him. "Cornelia? What are you- argh!" was all Miles managed to get out before the girl threw herself onto the bed and landed heavily on his stomach.

She lifter her head from where she lay across him, "Miles! Mommy and Rodney are on the way. Tell them I have been here with you the whole time!" she pleaded and barely managed to look over her shoulder to see the two said researchers entering the tent, looking surprised at the two of them. "Um, and what are you two doing?" Emilia asked, puzzled by the strange position both of them where in.

"Well…" Miles started and lifted his head to look over the seven-year-old that was blocking his view. "I didn't help Cornelia up, so she decided to take her revenge." Cornelia turned her head toward Miles, who flashed her a grin which Cornelia returned.

"I see. Anyway, Cornelia and I need to go pack our stuff so we'll be seeing you two later." the blonde woman spoke and hinted for her daughter to come over to her, which she did after waving goodbye to Miles. She grabbed her mother's hand and followed her outside. As they made their way over to their tent, Cornelia lifted her gaze to the tree line on the outskirt of their camp. Once she spotted the place where the air seemed a bit disorientated, she smiled, lifted her hand and waved goodbye to him.

The figure shifted for a moment before it disappeared. Cornelia lowered her hand, placing it on her chest where the green leaf-like stone was hidden under her t-shirt. Grinning to herself, she skipped at her mother's side happily. He would definitely return one day, and she simply couldn't wait till that happened. Not to mention that she could show off her room to him if he came to her house.

Cornelia suddenly halted with a shocked expression on her face. Emilia stopped and looked down at her daughter in confusion. "Cornelia? Is something wrong?" In response, she twisted her head to watch her mother. "I forgot…" The confused look didn't disappear from her features as she knelt down to get on eyelevel with her daughter. "What did you forget?"

"I forgot to tell him where we live…"

**The End.**

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_**Important message!**_ _Please read._

_There are a lot of things I have planned in the sequel that I have not full knowledge of, or other things I need help with. Therefore, I have made a forum for my story where I'll be posting updates to what I'm up to with the story, and asking for help and ideas. So I'd appreciate it if you could take your time to subscribe to it, or at least keep an eye on it from time to time. Or else I might get stuck with the writing, leading to a longer wait for you guys._

_I have already added a post there with a little info on what the sequel will be about, and some things I need help with. _

_Find it here: wwwdotfanfictiondotnet/forum/Wild_Jungle/79318/_

_And before I forget! I'd like to thank all of you who have either added my story to their favorites or subscribed, not to mention all the nice reviews. It means a lot. _

_Ps. Don't worry about Catcher not finding his way, all he needs to do is go search for the Campbell residence on Google maps ;)_


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